Narrative: A Critical Linguistic Introduction (Interface) Review

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(More customer reviews)I had the privilege of attending a one year seminar on Narrative Analysis by Professor Michael Toolan, and compared with that lively and exciting experience, the book he wrote more than ten years before seems to lack something. It seems a bit on the dry side, but that's besides the point: You are probably not going to pick up a linguistic introduction to narrative for entertainment anyway.
The book covers basic story structure (in search of a grammar of plot), time (order, duration, summary and scene - i.e. telling and showing, frequency), character, setting, focalization, free indirect discourse, sociolinguistics and more. You have to keep in mind that the approach here is linguistic.
The book does not specifically deal with film narratives - if you want to focus on that, I recommend reading Seymour Chatman's "Story and Discourse" or Bordwell and Thompson's "Film Art: An Introduction". However, even then, you might find the concepts summarized in this book helpful.
On the whole, this is a very useful introduction, though it may be tough going in places. Other books you may find useful are "Narratology - an introduction" and "Narrative Fiction".

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This classic text has been substantially rewritten. Narrative explores a range of written, spoken, literary and non-literary narratives.It shows what systematic attention to language can reveal about the narratives themselves, their tellers, and those to whom they are addressed.New material includes sections on gendered narrative, film narrative and a discussion of ways in which the internet and global television are changing conceptions of narrative.

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