Tools for Analyzing Prose Fiction

Narratology is a type of formalist criticism that explains and analyzes the structures, modes, and techniques of narrative. See Abrams, “Narrative and Narratology” (123-25), “Plot” (159-63), “Point of View” (165-69).

Narrative: story comprising characters, their dialogue and actions, and the events in which they participate.

• Narratives may be related (novels, short stories) or enacted (drama)
• Most narratives have a protagonist (one primary character who is the main focus of interest), who may or may not have an antagonist (one main opponent) and/or a foil (one or more figures who highlight the protagonist by their contrast with him/her).
• The components of narrative are Story (all the events in the story arranged in chronological order, as they “happened”) and Plot (the structure given to the narrative by the author, the way the story is actually presented to the reader).
• Plots may be
  • Episodic: events are held together mainly by the fact that they happen to the protagonist
  • Unified: events are carefully organized to create the effect of unity of action, constituting one action with a continuous sequence of beginning, middle, and end. See Freytag’s Triangle.
  • Polyphonic: main plot is interwoven with one or more subplots that enhance its meaning

Point of View: the way a story is told; the perspectives which are presented to the reader

• First-Person Narrative: the narrator refers to him/herself with the pronouns “I” and “me”
  • Protagonist or Participant/Observer
  • Self-consciously narrating or Unself-consciously narrating
  • Reliable or Unreliable/Fallible
• Third-Person Narrative: the story is told in the third-person, with pronouns “I” and “me” used only in dialogue
  • Omniscient: narrator knows everything about all characters, events, etc.; omniscient narrators may also occasionally employ embedded focalizers, characters whose perspectives temporarily control the narrative
    • Intrusive: narrator comments on and evaluates characters and actions; establishes what counts as facts and values in the narrative
    • Unintrusive/Impersonal/Objective: narrator “shows rather than tells”; does not explicitly comment on or evaluate the actions
  • Limited Point of View: narrative is controlled by through the limited perspectives of one main character (or a very few important characters) who does not know everything; such a third- person focalizer is often called a center of consciousness

Varieties of Authorial Voice:

• Published Attribution::
  • Anonymous
  • Obvious pseudonyms (male, female)
  • Purportedly real names (male, female)
• Authorial Voice or Standpoint:
  • Ungendered/gender-neutral voices
    • Obtrusive or Unobtrusive
    • Universalized or Located/Situated
  • Gendered voices
    • Overtly claimed masculine or feminine standpoint
    • Implied masculine or feminine standpoint
    • Transparently counterfeit masculine or feminine standpoint

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