DOCSLIB.ORG

The Power of Popular Romance Culture: Community, Fandom, and Sexual Politics

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Power of Popular Romance Culture: Community, Fandom, and Sexual Politics The Power of Popular Romance Culture: Community, Fandom, and Sexual Politics A dissertation presented to the faculty of the Scripps College of Communication of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Kelly L. Choyke December 2019 © 2019 Kelly L. Choyke. All Rights Reserved. This dissertation titled The Power of Popular Romance Culture: Gender, Fandom, and Sexual Politics by KELLY L. CHOYKE has been approved for the School of Media Arts & Studies and the Scripps College of Communication by Eve Ng Associate Professor of Media Arts and Studies Scott Titsworth Dean, Scripps College of Communication ii Abstract CHOYKE, KELLY L., Ph.D., August 2019, Media Arts & Studies The Power of Popular Romance Culture: Gender, Fandom, and Sexual Politics Director of Dissertation: Eve Ng The following study uses a feminist ethnographic approach to explore the relationship between the romance genres, feminism, and fandom, as well as how women are experiencing and sharing romance novels in their everyday lives. Furthermore, this study tackles the nature of the cultural stigma against the romance genres, and how readers and writers navigate and respond to said stigma. The goal of this study was to highlight and explore the significance of gynocentric narratives in popular culture, as well as the nature of gynocentric participatory culture. Readers and writers understand the cultural stigma that surrounds romance novels in the context of cultural misogyny and literary elitism in the publishing world. The enduring appeal of romance novels for readers and writers is characterized by romance novels as spaces of hope, optimism and escape; as spaces of feminist resistance within an increasingly neoliberal, or individualistic, patriarchal culture; and as texts that explore and celebrate female subjectivity and sexuality. Furthermore, romance novels, as gynocentric participatory spaces, resist publishing industry standards and literary elitism, blur the producer- consumer binary, and champion a model of feminist ethics and care over a competitive hierarchal value system. iii Dedication For Romancelandia, May She Ever Endure. iv Acknowledgments I would like to thank the many people who assisted me throughout the dissertation process, including Dr. Kay-Anne Darlington, Dr. Kristin Distel, Dr. Kim Little, Dr. Loran Marsan, Dr. Sarah Parsloe, and Dr. Alex Reed. Many thanks to my committee, Dr. Eve Ng, Dr. Nicole Reynolds, Dr. Christina Beck, and Dr. Roger Cooper. I would also like to thank the friends and family who provided support these many years, Paula and Tyler Choyke, Chelsea Dooley, Jacquelyn Phillips, Laura Thomas, Diana Schoonover, Lacey Rogers, and The Captain. I would particularly like to thank all of the romance writers and readers who participated in this study; there would be no dissertation without you. Thank you to Romance Writers of America for the support you provided, both in helping me gain access to participants, as well as the academic grant that allowed me to complete my research. Finally, I would like to thank superstar romance fans, and my good friends, Laura Gregory, Meg Reimer, Amy Hankins Hood, and Melody Kraley Pyman for so enthusiastically supporting my research. v Table of Contents Page Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................... v Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: Literature Review ............................................................................................ 11 The Evolution of Feminine Narratives in Publishing ................................................. 11 A Review of Romance Scholarship ............................................................................ 21 The Patriarchy, Feminism, and Sexual Politics .......................................................... 29 Romance Readers as Fans ........................................................................................... 33 Chapter 3: Methods ........................................................................................................... 41 Chapter 4: Because Women: Misogyny and the Romance Stigma .................................. 54 The Patriarchy, Women’s Writing, and Mass Culture ................................................ 63 “Happily Ever Afters” and Formulas: Genre Conventions are Suspect ..................... 70 Emotions are Irrational: Misogyny, Toxic Masculinity, and the Romance Novel ..... 74 Why are Dragons More Realistic than the Female Orgasm?: Romance Novels are Dangerous ................................................................................................................... 78 Conclusion: Romance Novels are Bad for Women .................................................... 87 Chapter 5: Gynocentric Fantasy and Desire: The Enduring Appeal of the Romance Novel ........................................................................................................................................... 90 Hope, Optimism, and the Romance Novel ................................................................. 96 Feminism and the Subversion of Neoliberal Androcentrism .................................... 105 Romance Novels as Spaces of Female Sexual Freedom .......................................... 111 Conclusion: Romance Novels and Feminism ........................................................... 121 Chapter 6: The Romancelandia Collective: Gynocentric Production and Participatory Culture ............................................................................................................................. 128 Gender and Fan Studies: Emotions, Attachment, and Femininity ............................ 131 Romancelandia: The Profitability of Gynocentric Production ................................. 135 Producers are Consumers: Disrupting the Producer-Consumer Binary ................... 146 Fandom in Romancelandia: Gynocentric Participatory Culture ............................... 156 Internet forums and podcasts. ............................................................................. 158 Romance conventions. ........................................................................................ 159 vi Conclusion: Future Research on Romancelandia ..................................................... 162 Chapter 7: Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 164 References ....................................................................................................................... 175 Appendix A ..................................................................................................................... 191 Appendix B ..................................................................................................................... 193 Appendix C ..................................................................................................................... 194 Appendix D ..................................................................................................................... 195 Appendix E ..................................................................................................................... 197 vii Chapter 1: Introduction When media scholars refer to “significant global media markets,” romance novels do not immediately come to mind; and yet, popular romance is a billion dollar industry, out-selling every other literary genre year after year (RWA, 2019). Despite the general decline in reading and publishing, the romance genres have greatly increased publication rates over the past decade (Ramsdell, 2012; RWA, 2019). With an audience consisting of at least eighty-two percent women, the romance genres are texts produced largely by women, for women (RWA, 2019). Furthermore, romance is one of the few media platforms where women are creating stories primarily for women, often without consideration of a normative, or androcentric point of view. Other media targeted towards women, such as film and television, typically take into account the more mainstream, or male, point of view as the producers want to reach as large a demographic as possible. Moreover, while men may not outnumber women within a demographic, androcentric narratives are desirable, as patriarchal mass culture equates maleness with humanness. The bulk of mass mediated content typically utilizes an androcentric framework, as the male viewpoint, or logic system, is the norm (Fetterley, 1978; Regis, 2003; Russ, 1983; Warhol, 2003). In a world that caters to more mainstream androcentric content, the majority of the stories found in the media are not only androcentric, but often negligent of women’s experiences and perspectives. Popular romance is truly one of the few communities and forms of media where both the male 1 point of view is not centralized, and women are responsible for the production and distribution of the media product. While romance genres have often been considered lowbrow genre fiction both in popular culture and the publishing world in the past, bound by rigid conventions (Regis, 2003),
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Ontology and Literary Status of the Screenplay:The Case of »Scriptfic«
    DOI 10.1515/jlt-2013-0006 JLT 2013; 7(1–2): 135–153 Ted Nannicelli The Ontology and Literary Status of the Screenplay:The Case of »Scriptfic« Abstract: Are screenplays – or at least some screenplays – works of literature? Until relatively recently, very few theorists had addressed this question. Thanks to recent work by scholars such as Ian W. Macdonald, Steven Maras, and Steven Price, theorizing the nature of the screenplay is back on the agenda after years of neglect (albeit with a few important exceptions) by film studies and literary studies (Macdonald 2004; Maras 2009; Price 2010). What has emerged from this work, however, is a general acceptance that the screenplay is ontologically peculiar and, as a result, a divergence of opinion about whether or not it is the kind of thing that can be literature. Specifically, recent discussion about the nature of the screenplay has tended to emphasize its putative lack of ontological autonomy from the film, its supposed inherent incompleteness, or both (Carroll 2008, 68–69; Maras 2009, 48; Price 2010, 38–42). Moreover, these sorts of claims about the screenplay’s ontology – its essential nature – are often hitched to broader arguments. According to one such argument, a screenplay’s supposed ontological tie to the production of a film is said to vitiate the possibility of it being a work of literature in its own right (Carroll 2008, 68–69; Maras 2009, 48). According to another, the screenplay’s tenuous literary status is putatively explained by the idea that it is perpetually unfinished, akin to a Barthesian »writerly text« (Price 2010, 41).
    [Show full text]
  • AS and a Level English Literature
    AS and A Level English Literature Literary terms: A guide for students Literary terms: A guide for students Literary terms: A guide for students Contents Introduction .............................................................................................. 2 Frequently misused words ........................................................................... 3 General terms: .......................................................................................... 4 Poetry ...................................................................................................... 8 Genres ................................................................................................... 8 Analytic vocabulary ............................................................................... 10 Drama .................................................................................................... 11 Genres ................................................................................................. 11 Analytic Terms ...................................................................................... 12 Prose ...................................................................................................... 13 Genres ................................................................................................. 13 Analytic Terms ...................................................................................... 14 1 Literary terms: A guide for students Introduction The terminology below may be used support your reading and response
    [Show full text]
  • A Natural History of the Romance Novel
    A romance novel is a work ofprosefiction that tells the story of the courtship and betrothal ofone or more heroines. As this definition is neither widely known nor accepted, it ' -requires no little defense as well as some teasing out of dis- tinctions between the term put forward here, "romance novel," and terms in widespread use, such as .''E'&&nq~and "novel." I begin with the broadest term, "roman$< . ' The term "romance" is confusing~~iiiclp~~,meaning one ' .* - thing in r suncy- of me&eval lit entire& &&cc, in a cbntmhporary store for r copy of the h&mt Dartbur axit$:& &k will take you m the 'literacure" $t&on: a glance a; prdksintroduction will inform you that Malory's prose a~$$t,~4:f King Arthur is called a "romance." Ask for a roman<L d$he clerk will take t y. '%- you to the (generally) large section G& & &e stocked with Harlequins, Silhouettes and single-title releases by writers such as Nora Roberts, Amanda Quick, and Janet Dailey. Can Mal- 07's Mortc Dartbur and Quick's Dcctptwn both be romances? , They can be and are, but only Dcctption is also a romance novel . as I am defining the term here. Robert Ellrich hazards a definition of the old, encompassing term "romance": "the story of iridividual human beings pursu- :.hg their precarious existence with+ the circumscription of ~d,moral, and various other hs-worldly problems. the ce . means to show the &r what steps must be taken to reach a desired goal, sqresented often though not m the guise of a spouse" @f4-75).
    [Show full text]
  • Exploring Mood Metadata: Relationships with Genre, Artist and Usage Metadata
    EXPLORING MOOD METADATA: RELATIONSHIPS WITH GENRE, ARTIST AND USAGE METADATA Xiao Hu J. Stephen Downie International Music Information Retrieval Systems Evaluation Laboratory The Graduate School of Library and Information Science University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign {xiaohu, jdownie}@uiuc.edu ABSTRACT evidenced by the ongoing discussions to establish a “Audio Mood Classification” (AMC) task at the Music There is a growing interest in developing and then Information Retrieval Evaluation eXchange (MIREX) 1 evaluating Music Information Retrieval (MIR) systems [3], this lack of common understanding is inhibiting that can provide automated access to the mood progress in developing and evaluating mood-related dimension of music. Mood as a music access feature, access mechanisms. In fact, it was the MIREX however, is not well understood in that the terms used to discussions that inspired this study. Thus, this paper is describe it are not standardized and their application can intended to contribute our general understanding of be highly idiosyncratic. To better understand how we music mood issues by formally exploring the might develop methods for comprehensively developing relationships between: 1) mood and genre; 2) mood and and formally evaluating useful automated mood access artist; and, 3) mood and recommended usage (see techniques, we explore the relationships that mood has below). It is also intended to contribute more with genre, artist and usage metadata. Statistical analyses specifically to the MIREX community by providing of term interactions across three metadata collections recommendations on how to proceed in constructing a AllMusicGuide.com epinions.com Last.fm ( , and ) possible method for conducting an “AMC” task. reveal important consistencies within the genre-mood Our primary dataset is derived from metadata found and artist-mood relationships.
    [Show full text]
  • Con-Scripting the Masses: False Documents and Historical Revisionism in the Americas
    University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Open Access Dissertations 2-2011 Con-Scripting the Masses: False Documents and Historical Revisionism in the Americas Frans Weiser University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/open_access_dissertations Part of the Comparative Literature Commons Recommended Citation Weiser, Frans, "Con-Scripting the Masses: False Documents and Historical Revisionism in the Americas" (2011). Open Access Dissertations. 347. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/open_access_dissertations/347 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. CON-SCRIPTING THE MASSES: FALSE DOCUMENTS AND HISTORICAL REVISIONISM IN THE AMERICAS A Dissertation Presented by FRANS-STEPHEN WEISER Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment Of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY February 2011 Program of Comparative Literature © Copyright 2011 by Frans-Stephen Weiser All Rights Reserved CON-SCRIPTING THE MASSES: FALSE DOCUMENTS AND HISTORICAL REVISIONISM IN THE AMERICAS A Dissertation Presented by FRANS-STEPHEN WEISER Approved as to style and content by: _______________________________________________ David Lenson, Chair _______________________________________________
    [Show full text]
  • Epsitemology, Literary Genre and Knowledge Organisation Systems
    Epistemology, literary genre and knowledge organisation systems PAULINE RAFFERTY Aberystwyth University Llanbadarn Fawr, Ceredigion, Wales [email protected] Abstract This theoretical paper considers genre as the epistemological foundation for fiction retrieval systems, in particular the relationship between the individual work and generic systems. It explores the characteristics of literary genres, and how they are determined, and examines ontological and historical aspects of genre. It considers the relationship between historically contingent generic transformations and literary genre as categorising principle. Finally, it offers some suggestions for future design of fiction KOS. Keywords: Fiction, Genres, Knowledge organisation systems, Tagging. 20 Años del Capítulo Español de ISKO. Actas del X Congreso ISKO Capítulo Español (Ferrol, 2011) Universidade da Coruña (España), 2012. ISBN: 978-84-9749-535-6 Pp. 553-565 EPISTEMOLOGY, LITERARY GENRE AND KNOWLEDGE ORGANISATION SYSTEMS 555 1. Preface Traditionally, where knowledge organisation systems (KOS) have dealt with fictional works, the approach has generally been through genre (see Beghtol, 1989, 1990, for an overview of fiction classification schemes). The notion of genre as categorisation principle comes to library science, relatively unexamined, from literary theory. It underpins many of the assumptions that fiction KOS has about fictional texts, even when the focus of the fiction retrieval system is predominantly based on user-warrant (e.g. The Book House, Pejtersen, 199, 59). Raymond Williams wrote “the recognition of the relation of a collective mode and an individual object …is a recognition of related practices. That is to say, the irreducibly individual projects that particular works are, may come in experience and in analysis to show resemblances which allow us to group them into collective modes” (Williams, 2001, 179).
    [Show full text]
  • Afrindian Fictions
    Afrindian Fictions Diaspora, Race, and National Desire in South Africa Pallavi Rastogi T H E O H I O S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y P R E ss C O L U MB us Copyright © 2008 by The Ohio State University. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rastogi, Pallavi. Afrindian fictions : diaspora, race, and national desire in South Africa / Pallavi Rastogi. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-8142-0319-4 (alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8142-0319-1 (alk. paper) 1. South African fiction (English)—21st century—History and criticism. 2. South African fiction (English)—20th century—History and criticism. 3. South African fic- tion (English)—East Indian authors—History and criticism. 4. East Indians—Foreign countries—Intellectual life. 5. East Indian diaspora in literature. 6. Identity (Psychol- ogy) in literature. 7. Group identity in literature. I. Title. PR9358.2.I54R37 2008 823'.91409352991411—dc22 2008006183 This book is available in the following editions: Cloth (ISBN 978–08142–0319–4) CD-ROM (ISBN 978–08142–9099–6) Cover design by Laurence J. Nozik Typeset in Adobe Fairfield by Juliet Williams Printed by Thomson-Shore, Inc. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the Ameri- can National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. ANSI Z39.48–1992. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Acknowledgments v Introduction Are Indians Africans Too, or: When Does a Subcontinental Become a Citizen? 1 Chapter 1 Indians in Short: Collectivity
    [Show full text]
  • Global Infatuation: Explorations in Transnational Publishing and Texts. the Case of Harlequin Enterprises and Sweden
    GlobalGlobal Infatuation InfatuationExplorations in Transnational Publishing and Texts the case of harlequin enterprises and sweden HemmungsEvaEva Hemmungs Wirtén Wirtén Skrifter utgivna av Avdelningen för litteratursociologi vid Litteraturvetenskapliga institutionen i Uppsala Publications from the Section for Sociology of Literature at the Department of Literature, Uppsala University Nr 38 Global Infatuation Explorations in Transnational Publishing and Texts the case of harlequin enterprises and sweden Eva Hemmungs Wirtén Avdelningen för litteratursociologi vid Litteraturvetenskapliga institutionen i Uppsala Section for Sociology of Literature at the Department of Literature, Uppsala University Uppsala 1998 Till Mamma och minnet av Pappa Dissertation for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in literature presented at Uppsala University in 1998 Abstract Hemmungs Wirtén, E. 1998: Global Infatuation: Explorations in Transnational Publishing and Texts. The Case of Harlequin Enterprises and Sweden. Skrifter utgivna av Avdelningen för litteratursociologi vid Litteraturvetenskapliga institutionen i Uppsala. Publications from the Section for Sociology of Literature at the Department of Literature, Uppsala University, 38. 272 pp. Uppsala. ISBN 91-85178-28-4. English text. This dissertation deals with the Canadian category publisher Harlequin Enterprises. Operating in a hundred markets and publishing in twenty-four languages around the world, Harlequin Enterprises exempliıes the increasingly transnational character of publishing and the media. This book takes the Stockholm-based Scandinavian subsidiary Förlaget Harlequin as a case-study to analyze the complexities involved in the transposition of Harlequin romances from one cultural context into another. Using a combination of theoretical and empirical approaches it is argued that the local process of translation and editing – here referred to as transediting – has a fundamental impact on how the global book becomes local.
    [Show full text]
  • New Orlearis Review
    New Orlearis Review LOYOLA UNIVERSITY VOLUME 11 NUMBER 21$7.00 New Orleans Review Summer 1984 Editors John Biguenet, Art and Literature Bruce Henricksen, Theory and Criticism John Mosier, Film, General Editor Managing Editor Sarah Elizabeth Spain Design Vilma Pesciallo Contributing Editor Raymond McGowan Founding Editor Miller Williams Advisory Editors Richard Berg Doris Betts Joseph Fichter, S.J. Dawson Gaillard Alexis Gonzales, F.S.C. John Irwin Murray Krieger Wesley Morris Walker Percy Herman Rapaport Robert Scholes Marcus Smith Miller Williams The New Orleans Review is published by Loyola University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118, United States. Copyright © 1984 by Loyola University. Critical essays relating to film or literature of up to ten thou­ sand words should be prepared to conform with the new MLA guidelines and sent to the appropriate editor, together with a stamped, self-addressed envelope. The address is New Or­ leans Review, Box 195, Loyola University, New Orleans, Lou­ isiana 70118. Fiction, poetry, photography or related artwork should be sent to the Art and Literature Editor. A stamped, self-addressed envelope should be enclosed. Reasonable care is taken in the handling of material, but no responsibility is assumed for the loss of unsolicited material. Accepted manuscripts are the property of the NOR. The New Orleans Review is published in February, May, Au­ gust and November. Annual Subscription Rate: Institutions $30.00, Individuals $25.00, Foreign Subscribers $35.00. Con­ tents listed in the PMLA Bibliography and the Index of American Periodical Verse. US ISSN 0028-6400. r CONTENTS POETRY AND FICTION Babies Are Cruel People fan Newman 31 The Reception Richard Easton 23 I J I I The Baker F.
    [Show full text]
  • Discovering by Analysis: Harry Potter and Youth Fantasy
    DOCUMENT RESUME ED 459 865 IR 058 417 AUTHOR Center, Emily R. TITLE Discovering by Analysis: Harry Potter and Youth Fantasy. PUB DATE 2001-08-00 NOTE 38p.; Master of Library and Information Science Research Paper, Kent State University. PUB TYPE Dissertations/Theses (040) EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Adolescent Literature; *Childrens Literature; *Fantasy; Fiction; Literary Criticism; *Reading Material Selection; Tables (Data) IDENTIFIERS *Harry Potter; *Reading Lists ABSTRACT There has been a recent surge in the popularity of youth fantasy books; this can be partially attributed to the popularity of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. Librarians and others who recommend books to youth are having a difficult time suggesting other fantasy books to those who have read the Harry Potter series and want to read other similar fantasy books, because they are not as familiar with the youth fantasy genre as with other genres. This study analyzed a list of youth fantasy books and compared them to the books in the Harry Potter series, through a breakdown of their fantasy elements (i.e., fantasy subgenres, main characters, secondary characters, plot elements, and miscellaneous elements) .Books chosen for the study were selected from lists of youth fantasy books recommended to fantasy readers and others that are currently in print. The study provides a resource for fantasy readers by quantifying the elements of the youth fantasy books, as well as creating a guide for those interested in the Harry Potter books. It also helps fill a gap in the research of youth fantasy. Appendices include a youth fantasy reading list, the coding sheet, data tables, and final annotated book list.(Contains 10 references and 9 tables.)(Author/MES) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.
    [Show full text]
  • ELEMENTS of FICTION – NARRATOR / NARRATIVE VOICE Fundamental Literary Terms That Indentify Components of Narratives “Fiction
    Dr. Hallett ELEMENTS OF FICTION – NARRATOR / NARRATIVE VOICE Fundamental Literary Terms that Indentify Components of Narratives “Fiction” is defined as any imaginative re-creation of life in prose narrative form. All fiction is a falsehood of sorts because it relates events that never actually happened to people (characters) who never existed, at least not in the manner portrayed in the stories. However, fiction writers aim at creating “legitimate untruths,” since they seek to demonstrate meaningful insights into the human condition. Therefore, fiction is “untrue” in the absolute sense, but true in the universal sense. Critical Thinking – analysis of any work of literature – requires a thorough investigation of the “who, where, when, what, why, etc.” of the work. Narrator / Narrative Voice Guiding Question: Who is telling the story? …What is the … Narrative Point of View is the perspective from which the events in the story are observed and recounted. To determine the point of view, identify who is telling the story, that is, the viewer through whose eyes the readers see the action (the narrator). Consider these aspects: A. Pronoun p-o-v: First (I, We)/Second (You)/Third Person narrator (He, She, It, They] B. Narrator’s degree of Omniscience [Full, Limited, Partial, None]* C. Narrator’s degree of Objectivity [Complete, None, Some (Editorial?), Ironic]* D. Narrator’s “Un/Reliability” * The Third Person (therefore, apparently Objective) Totally Omniscient (fly-on-the-wall) Narrator is the classic narrative point of view through which a disembodied narrative voice (not that of a participant in the events) knows everything (omniscient) recounts the events, introduces the characters, reports dialogue and thoughts, and all details.
    [Show full text]
  • The Basic Concept of Narratology and Narrative
    Language Circle: Journal of Language and Literature 14(2) April 2020 P-ISSN 1858-0157 Available online at http://journal.unnes.ac.id/nju/index.php/LC E-ISSN 2460-853X The Basic Concept of Narratology and Narrative Devi Sari Panggabean Universitas Sumatera Utara, Indonesia Email: [email protected] Rahmadsyah Rangkuti Universitas Sumatera Utara, Indonesia Abstract The field of narratology is concerned with the study and analysis of narrative texts. It puts under investigation literary pieces of language and yields an understanding of the components has in its very texture. The aim of this article is to provide insights about the field of ‘narratology’ and its associated subject of study ‘narrative’. It also tries to sketch the main issues concerning these two concepts. For this, the present review is presented in two major sections, each with related discussions about narratology and narrative. The first major part, narratology, will be presented in three sections: the first section, deals with the definitions and origins of narratology. The defi- nitions are inspected and the researchers show how they go from general (encompassing all which is narrated) to more specific (encompassing literary narratives told by a narrator) ones. The second section, focuses on the two phases of narratology which are classical and post-classical ones in which narratology changed its orientations and scope.RETRACTED The last section is devoted to some of the elements and components of which narratology is made up, such as narration, focalization, narrative situation, action, story analysis, tellability, tense, time, and narrative modes which will be elaborated on in more details.
    [Show full text]