G.M. Adhyanggono, S.S.,M.A.
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The study of how narratives (stories) make
meaning, and what the basic mechanisms and
procedures are which are common to all acts of
story-telling.
◦ Narratology ≠ the reading & interpretation of
individual stories, but the attempt to study the nature
of ‘story’ itself, as a concept and as a cultural practice.
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Story/fabula/histoire
◦ “The actual sequence as they happen; the story has to
begin at the beginning, then move chronologically
without nothing left out.”
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Plot/sjuzhet (pronounced ‘soojay’)/discourse/recit
◦ “A version of the story that can begin in the middle of
a chain of events, and that can also provide us with
flash back and flash forward.”
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Aristotle (Aristotelian analysis)
Vladimir Propp (Proppian analysis)
Gerard Genette (Genettian analysis)
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‘Character’ and ‘action’ are essential in a story.
They must be revealed through elements of
plot.
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Three key elements in plot:
◦ The hamartia
◦ sin, flaw that induces tragic flaw in tragedy
◦ The anagnorisis
◦ ‘recognition’ or ‘realization’
◦ appear when the truth of the situation is recognized by
the protagonist = a moment of self-recognition
◦ The peripeteia
◦ ‘reversal’ of fortune or a ‘turn-round’
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Proposes a 31- function that some of them may
construct or form a tale.
Not a single tale/story has all functions.
Yet, the order of the function is fixed because
events tend to have a due order.
This method basically wants to show that
beside its ‘multiformity’ lies ‘a uniformity’.
From 31-function, Propp classifies them into
“seven spheres of action” as roles, not the
characters.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
The villain
The donor (provider)
The helper
The princess (a sought-for-person) and her
father
The dispatcher
The hero (seeker or victim)
The false hero
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Gives weight more on how the story is told.
Proposes 6 areas:
1. Is the basic narrative mode mimetic or
diegetic?
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Mimetic – ‘dramatizing’/ ‘showing’ , with direct
speech and dialogue – slow telling
Diegetic – ‘panoramic’/ ‘summarizing’, without trying
to show it as it happens before our eyes – rapid
telling
How is the narrative focalized?
2.
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Point of view:
 External focalization – from outside, focus on
what the characters say and do.
e.g. Thelma stood up and called out to Mario.
 Internal focalization – from inside, focus on what
the characters feel & think
e.g. Thelma suddenly felt anxious that Mario was
not going to see her and would walk by oblivious
on the other side of the road.
 Zero focalization – omniscient narration
Who is telling the story?
3.
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Covert/effaced/non-intrusive/nondramatized/authorial persona
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Not identified at all as a distinct character with name
or personal history, remains as a voice or tone –
zerofocalized.
Overt/dramatized/intrusive
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Heterodiegetic – one distinct character telling others.
Homodiegetic – one distinct character telling
himself/herself.
How is time handled in the story?
4.
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Flash back = analeptic
Flash forward = proleptic
Analeptic & proleptic rarely begin in the beginning,
usually in the middle (in medias res, a theory of the
classical times)
Singleended
5.
How is the story packaged?
Doubleended
Frame/primary/ narrative
Embedded/secondary
/meta/main narrative
Intrusive
How are speech and thought represented?
6.
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Direct & tagged
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‘What’s your name ?’ Mario asked her. ‘It’s Thelma’, she
replied.
Direct & untagged
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‘What’s your name ?’
‘Thelma’.
Direct & selectively tagged
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‘What’s your name ?’ asked Mario.
‘Thelma’.
◦ Tagged indirect speech
 He asked her what her name was, and she told him it was
Thelma.
◦ Free indirect speech
 What was her name? It was Thelma. Thelma, was it? Not
the kind of name to launch a thousand ships. More of a
suburban, lace-curtain sort of name, really.
1.
2.
3.
4.
They look at individual narratives seeking out
the recurrent structures which are found
within all narratives.
They focuses more on the teller and the
telling; disregard the content.
They take categories derives mainly from the
analysis of short narratives which are
expanded later on novel-length narratives.
They foreground action and structure than
character and motive.