Narratology
Lexicon
P-R
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polyphonic: “Polyphony refers not literally to a number of
voices, but to the collective quality of an individual utterance; that
is, the capacity of my utterance to embody someone else's
utterance even while it is mine, which thereby creates a dialogic
relationship between two voices. For example, I quote or report
someone's speech and thereby "dialogue" with his/her opinion; I
appropriate the speech pattern of an admired person and
associate myself with that person's linguistic-ideologic
community; or I mock someone and dissociate myself from him
or her. These are obvious examples, but Bakhtin further
maintains that polyphony is inherent in all words or forms: "Each
word tastes of the context and contexts in which it has lived its
socially charged life; all words and forms are populated by
intentions." [9]
Linda M. Park-Fuller , “VOICES: Bakhtin's Heteroglossia and
Polyphony, and the Performance of Narrative Literature”
Studies in Narratology,
Summer 2011
paratext: Blurbs, prefaces, authorial commentary,
reviews and illustrations all qualify as paratext, which is a
term coined by Gerard Genette. Part of the book and yet not
part of the main narrative, paratext acts on us as readers in
a way that influences how we read and interpret the main
text. An author's commentary or a powerful illustration can
especially influence interpretation.
Studies in Narratology,
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protagonist: The main CHARACTER;
the character constituting the chief focus of
interest. A narrative articulated in terms of an
interpersonal conflict involves two major
characters with opposite goals: the
protagonist (or the HERO) and the
ANTAGONIST. See: N. Friedman 1975;
Frye 1957; Tomashevsky 1965. See also
ANTIHERO, SUBJECT.
Studies in Narratology,
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protension (Iser): “Each sentence of a literary narrative or
each shot of a television narrative both answers questions and asks
new ones. Iser describes this process as an alternation between
protension (expectation or anticipation) and retention (our
knowledge of the text to that point). . . . According to Iser,
although the text can stimulate and attempt to channel protension
and retention, it cannot control those process, because both occur
in the places where the text is silent—in the inevitable gaps
between sentences, paragraphs, and chapters. And, I would add,
in the gaps between shots, scenes, segments, and episodes. It is in
these holes in the textual structure that we as readers and viewers
‘work’ on that structure. We make the connections the text
cannot make for us.”—Robert C. Allen, “Reader-Oriented Criticism
and Television”
Studies in Narratology,
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real author: The author (real or empirical) can be defined in a narrow
sense as the intellectual creator of a text written for communicative
purposes. In written texts in particular, the real author is distinguished from
the mediating instances internal to the text . . . . Beyond linguistically
created works, the term author is also used for works in other media such
as music and the visual arts as well as for comics, photography, film, radio
and television programs, and computer games.
A broader understanding of the term author is used in the following
contexts, among others: as conveyor of action in a socio-cultural context
(cf. 2.3); in the sense of specific cultural-historically relevant conceptions of
authorship; as a unifying instance in the interrelation of works (œuvre); as
a reference for classification in terms of epoch and canon; and as an
important point of reference for the meanings ascribed to works through
which the recipient can determine the author’s intention and/or authorrelated contexts relevant to understanding a work (cf. 2.2).
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real reader:
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repeating narrative (Genette):
A narrative or part thereof with a Frequency
such that what happens once is recounted n
times (with or without stylistic variations):
"At two o'clock Mary saw Nancy! At two
o'clock Mary saw Nancy! She felt really
good." See: Genette 1980.
Studies in Narratology,
Summer 2011
retention (Iser): “Each sentence of a literary
narrative or each shot of a television narrative both
answers questions and asks new ones. Iser describes this
process as an alternation between protension
(expectation or anticipation) and retention (our knowledge
of the text to that point). . . . According to Iser, although
the text can stimulate and attempt to channel protension
and retention, it cannot control those process, because
both occur in the places where the text is silent—in the
inevitable gaps between sentences, paragraphs, and
chapters. And, I would add, in the gaps between shots,
scenes, segments, and episodes. It is in these holes in the
textual structure that we as readers and viewers ‘work’ on
that structure. We make the connections the text cannot
make for us.”—Robert C. Allen, “Reader-Oriented Criticism
and Television”
Studies in Narratology,
Summer 2011
round character: A complex,
multidimensional, unpredictable
character, who is capable of
convincingly surprising behavior.
Charlus in Remembrance of Things
Past is a round character. See:
Forster1927. See also FLAT
CHARACTER.
Studies in Narratology,
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