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. The second major part, narrative, will be presented in four sections: first the concept will be defined and introduced. Then the features which make a narrative will be speci- fied and elaborated on. In the third section, some of the elements of narratives like story, discourse, events, and existents are stressed. In the last section, it is elucidated that narrative is not just a written printed genre, rather it consists of performed genres such as plays, films, and operas.

Keywords: Narratology, Narrative, Definitions, Classical/post-classical narratology

INTRODUCTION wer can be found in what Gerard Prince (1990) asserts when he says narratology helps to show The beginings of narratology like the the structure behind a narrative text. In defining roots of all Western theories of fiction Jahn narratology, he stresses the temporal aspect of (2005) asserts, go back to Plato’s (428-348− BC) narratives believing that narratology illuminates and Aristotle’s (384-322 BC) distinction between− temporality and also human beings as temporal ‘mimesis’ (imitation) and ‘diegesis’ (narration) beings. Prince also pinpoints narratology’s vital (Jahn, 2005, N2.1.4.). The two terms are crucial implications for humans’ self-understanding. Bal and some have used them as their basic termino- (1991) also sketches narratology in this way as logy in their studies. One such writer and theorist she explains it is: “the theory of narrative text. is Chatman (1990) who uses these concepts to dis- A theory is a systematic set of generalized state- tinguish between diegetic narrative genres which ments about a particular segment of reality. That include: epic narratives, novels, short stories and segment of reality, the corpus, about which narra- mimetic narrative genres which are: plays, films, tology attempts to make its pronouncement con- and cartoons. sists of narrative text” (p. 264). In a classification According to Phelan (2005), Tzvetan for narratology, Jahn (2005) bases his discussion Todorov coined the French term narratologie on Ferdinand de Saussure’s concepts of ‘signifier’ (‘‘narratology’’) in his 1969 book Grammaire du and ‘signified’. Saussure believes a signifier to be “De´came´ron”. Phelan points that Todorov used a form and a signified to represent a kind of mea- this word in parallel with biology, sociology, and ning. Following these understandings, Jahn as- so forth to suggest “the science of narrative”. serts that for a narrative text, the discourse or the Aside from the beginning with which nar- specific mode of presentation is the signifier and ratology is identified, one may consider what the story (which transfers a sort of meaning and narratology exactly is and what it does. The ans- content) is the signified. Thus for Jahn, story and Language Circle: Journal of Language and Literature 14(2) April 2020 discourse are the backbones of his narrative in- other signifying systems and with the modalities vestigations. Discourse, as viewed by Jahn, refers of these traits” (Prince, 1982, p. 5). So it is clear to stylistic innovations and choices that make up from this and other definitions that narratology the ultimate realization of a narrative text which does not deal with the abstract levels of a specific is unique to every writer. However, story refers to narrative nor with the interpretative dimension of the actions that “emplot” and makes “a stream of narratives; but it investigates narratives’ structu- events into a trajectory of themes, motives, and re and basic traits which ultimately give shape to plot lines” (2005, N2.1.3.). what a narrative is and what distinguishes it from other forms. NARRATOLOGY Considering the origin and roots of ‘nar- ratology’ about both its name and discipline, Definition and origin of narratology Prince explains that though the term narratolo- The study of narrative, as put forward by gy is new, the discipline and what they do in it, Fludernik (2006), is narrative theory. Narrative is not new but it goes back at least to Plato and theory, or narratology, is the study of narrative as Aristotle (1982). But as a discipline, Jahn exp- a genre. Its objective is to describe “the constants, lains, narratology started to take form in 1966, variables and combinations typical of narrative and this was the time when the French journal and to clarify how these characteristics of narrati- Communications published a relevant issue with ve texts connect within the framework of theore- the title “The structural analysis of narrative” tical models (typologies)” (ibid, p. 8). (Jahn, 2005,N2.1.1.). Jahn explains that it was Originally established by Tzevan Todorov, just three years later that Tzevan Todorov coin- narratology is defined (by him) as the theory of ed the term narratology to refer to the theory of the structuresRETRACTED of narrative (in Phelan, 2006). The the structures of narrative and this was when a term narratology has been defined by some wri- narratologist aims to describe and investigate the ters in more or less the same way. The general structural properties of a narrative. This is called idea we get from these definitions is that narra- “dissecting the narrative phenomenon into its tology studies the formal features of a narrative. component parts” and attempting to determine Prince (1982), for instance, defines it as: “the its functions and relationships (ibid., N2.1.1.). study of the form and functioning of narrative” Admittedly, Prince (1982) also asserts that (p. 7). This term is moreover defined by Meister during the twentieth century narratology has (2009) as a “humanities discipline” which is de- been considerably developed. He says that narra- dicated to “the study of the logic,principles, and tological activity has been growing since the last practices of narrative representation” (in Huhn, ten years significantly. Further, he explains that Meister, Pier, Schmid, and Schönert, 2009, p. narratology expanded its scopes to other litera- 329). However, Schmid (2010) expresses that the- ry fields and it also attracted so many “literary re is a criticism by which writers are warned that analysists and linguists as well as philosophers, narratology must not confine itself to be merely psychologists, psychoanalysts, biblicists, folklo- analytic; because this will result in objective desc- rists, anthropologists, and communication theo- riptions which hence will be deprived of any free rists” (p. 4) in many parts of the world. interpretation. This outlook hints at the idea that Narratology can be considered based on narratology should make its borders larger. It sug- two classifications introduced by Jahn. In making gests that narratology, with widening its scope, a distinction between discourse narratology and can be more insightful. This is reflected in the era story narratology, Jahn (2005) refers to the Swiss of post-classical narratology. It gives narratology linguist Ferdinand de Saussure who, in Jahn’s a respite to interact with other disciplines (the words, is the “founding father of structuralis” next section will provide a more detailed discus- (N2.1.3), and explains how he differentiated the sion on this issue). two concepts of discourse and story, with his spe- Narratology examines what all narrati- cific terminology which are: the signifier which ves have in common, and what allows them to is the same as discourse (a mode of presentation) be narratively different (Prince, 1982). There is and the signified which is the same as story (an a delicate point in the definition of narratology action sequence). Thus, based on the same sour- to which Prince has pinpointed and that is the ce narratology pursues two traditions: discourse idea that narratology is not concerned with “the narratology analyzes the stylistic choices that history of particular novels or tales, or with their determine the form or realization of a narrative meaning, or with their esthetic value, but rather text (or performance, in the case of films and with the traits which distinguish narrative from plays). Also of interest are the pragmatic features

185 Language Circle: Journal of Language and Literature 14(2) April 2020 that contextualize text or performance within the Components and elements of narratology social and cultural framework of a narrative act. In narratology, a narrative is analyzed from Story narratology, by contrast, focuses on the ac- the point of view of its constituent components. tion units that ‘emplot’ and arrange a stream of In this section, we may point to Jahn’s (2005) events into a trajectory of themes, motives and classification of these components. Jahn suggests plot lines. The notion of emplotment plays a cru- three broad categories. The first of these, is nar- cial role in the work of theorists like the historian ration (voice), focolization (mood), and narrati- Hayden White (1996 [1981]) and cultural philo- ve situation, the second is Action, story analysis, sophers such as Paul Ricoeur (1991) and Michel tellability, and the third broad category is about Foucault. (Jahn, 2005, N2.1.3) Tense, Time, and Narrative Modes. As one can see, each of these categories carry some subcom- Classical and post-classical narratology ponents. For a general understanding, as well as, Narratological studies consist of two pha- familiarity with narratological components and ses: 1) the classical phase, and 2) the post classical elements, some issues about each one of these phase. “During its initial or classical phase, from subcomponents will be raised and explained. the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, narratologists were particularly interested in identifying and de- Narration (voice), focolization (mood), and fining narrative universals” (Meister, n.d., cited narrative situation in Hune et al, 2009, p. 329). This tendency was in Aiming to elucidate the concept of narra- air even a decade later in 1993 which is evident in tion, some point should be mentioned about nar- a definition of narratology from those years: “the rator since it is a dependent highly related con- set of general statements on narrative genres, on cept. Narrators may be overt or covert. An overt the systematicsRETRACTED of narrating (telling a story) and narrator is one who refers to him/herself in the on the structure of plot” (Ryan first person (“I”, “we” etc.), one who directly or von Alphen, 1993, p. 110). However, a indirectly addresses the narratee, one who offers decade later, narratology was alternatively desc- reader-friendly exposition whenever it is needed. ribed as (a) a theory (Prince, 2003, p. 1), (b) a A covert narrator, in contrast, is “one who has method (Kindt and Müller, 2003, p. 211), or (c) a more or less neutral (nondistinctive) voice and a discipline (Fludernik and Margolin, 2004, p. style, one who is sexually indeterminate, …, one 149). However, in Scheffel et al’s (n.d.) viewpoint, who does not intrude or interfere, one who lets the third option seems more suitable since it sub- the story events unfold in their natural sequen- sumes the two previous terms, that is theory and ce and tempo” (Jahn, 2005, N3.1.4.). Narrators method. They explicate that the term discipline may be homodiegetic, autodiegetic, heterodiege- covers both theoretical and practical approaches tic. This classification is based on the narrator’s to narrative and narratology. relationship to the story (Genette, 1980, p. 248, in A second phase in narratological studies is Jahn, 2005, N3.1.5.). A homodiegetic narrator is the post-classical phase. Narratology is not limited present as a character in the story. Jahn explains to only one theory and discipline. From post- that the prefix ‘homo-’ suggests that the narra- classical perspectives, narratology is a discipline tor is within the level of action. There is another which is wide enough in scope to be applied to ot- term in relation to homodiegetic narrator, which her disciplines. As quoted from Rimmon-Kenan is autodiegetic narrator and which has the same (2004), the transition to post-classical narratology meaning; but the only difference is that the narra- is a “shift from a fairly unified discipline to one tor here, is the protagonist. But in a heterodiege- characterized by a diversity of approaches” (p. tic narration, the story is told by a heterodiegetic 47). This phase is the time for the emergence of narrator who is not present as a character in the inter-disciplinary approaches like ‘feminist nar- story (Jahn, 2005, N3.1.5.). ratology’, ‘cognitive narratology’, ‘post-modern The second subcomponent is focolizati- narratology’, and other sub-disciplines (ibid., p. on or mood which poses the question of “who 49). Thus, there appears to be two viewpoints to- sees?” vs. the question of “who speaks” (which ward the concept of narratology. In one, we are is about narrators discussed earlier). Focolizati- faced with the “formalist-structuralist discipline” on centers on the idea that a specific narration as it is called by Rimmon-Kenan (2004, p. 44), or story is seen/told from whose perspective. In and in the second, some inter-disciplinary narra- this respect, two terms are introduced: external tology emerges which opens the ground for more focolization and internal focolization. External practical and in-depth studies. focolization refers to “the candidate for a text’s perspectival orientation who is the narrator”

186 Language Circle: Journal of Language and Literature 14(2) April 2020

(Jahn, 2005, N3.2.4.). Internal focolization is ce (2008) has referred to as narratibility, which is when the narrative events are “presented from a what makes a story worth telling. It allows a po- character’s point of view” (ibid.). Also, four types sitive answer to the question “What’s the point?” of focolization are determined by Jahn: fixed fo- calization, which is the presentation of narrative Tense, time, and narrative modes facts and events from the constant point of view The last of these categories introduced of a single focalizer; variable focalization, that is by Jahn (2005), is “Tense, Time, and Narrative “the presentation of different episodes of the sto- Mode”. Jahn distinguishes between two kinds of ry as seen through the eyes of several focalizers”; tenses: the narrative past and the narrative pre- multiple focalization which refers to a technique sent. The use of tense in a character’s discourse, of “presenting an episode repeatedly, each time Jahn clarifies, depends on some factors like the seen through the eyes of a different (internal) fo- current point in time in the story’s action (Jahn, calizer”; and finally, collective focalization that is 2005, N5.1.) However, the tense of a specific “focalization through either plural narrators (we narrative does not remain the same in the whole narrative) or a group of characters (collective ref- narrative, but it changes. This is where we need lectors )” (Jahn, 2005, N3.2.4.). the term tense switch/tense shift which refers The third subcomponent is narrative situa- to a shift from the current narrative tense to the tion. In clarifying narrative situation, Jahn men- complementary narrative tense (i.e., narrative tions Stanzel’s model as a base for his discussion. past to narrative present and vice versa) (ibid.). Stanzel has a complex framework about narrative Jahn also has classified tense according to the situations which aims to give some typical pat- anteriority or posteriority relationship between terns of narrative features, including features of discourse-NOW and story-NOW, which in turn “relationshipRETRACTED (involvement), distance, pragmatics, gives up three classifications: retrospective narra- knowledge, reliability, voice, and focalization” tion which produces a past-tense narrative whose (Jahn, 2005, N3.3.1.). According to Jahn (2005), events and action units have all happened in the both Genette (1988 [1983]: chp. 17) and Stanzel past; concurrent narration that produces a pre- (1984), use the term narrative situation to refer to sent-tense narrative whose action takes place at more complex arrangements or patterns of narra- the same time as it is recounted (discourse-NOW tive features. Based on the same source, Genette and story-NOW are identical); and at last pros- hires the classifications of voice (narration) and pective narration produces a future-tense narrati- mood (focolization) so that he can come to some ve which recounts events that have not yet occur- possible combinations of these two. Stanzel is red (Jahn, 2005, N5.1.4.). more interested in “describing ‘ideal-typical’ or Time and time analyses are concerned (as we shall say) prototypical configurations and with three questions: ‘When?’, ‘How long?’, and arranging them on a ‘typological circle’ ” (1984: ‘How often?’ Order refers to the handling of the xvi, in Jahn, 2005, N3.3.). Concepts like first- chronology of the story; duration covers the pro- person narrative, authorial narrative, and figural portioning of story time and discourse time; and narrative are raised in the discussion of narrative frequency refers to possible ways of presenting situation which are related to voice. Moreover, single or repetitive action units (Genette, 1980, we-narratives, you-narratives, simultaneous nar- pp. 33-85 & 87-112 & 113-160; Rimmon-Kenan, ration and camera-eye narration are further deba- 1983, pp. 43-58). The relevant terms one may face tes within the narrative situation. All in all, in the in regard to order, are the two basic concepts of narrative situation the aim is to mix some other flashback/retrospection/analepsis and flashfor- components in order to achieve a number of new ward/ anticipation/prolepsis. The former is the interpretations. presentation of events that have occurred before the current story-NOW, while the latter refers to Action, story analysis, tellability the presentation of a future event before its pro- The second category is action, story ana- per time (Jahn, 2005, N5.2.1.). For determining lysis, tellability. Action refers to“a sequence of the duration within a narrative, two fundamental acts and events; the sum of events constituting a points are necessary: discourse time (the time it ‘story line’ on a narrative’s level of action” (Jahn, takes an average reader to read a story), and sto- 2005, N4.1.). Action refers to a kind of “causal ry time (the fictional time taken up by an action connectivity” between story units (ibid., N4.6.). episode, or, more globally, by the whole action) The other term, tellability is what Abbot (2009) (ibid., N5.2.2.). Duration, Jahn (2005) affirms, asserts that ‘tellability’ is originally introduced by consists of five forms according to the pace of Labov (1972). Abbot continues: this is what Prin- discourse time in relation to story time: isochro-

187 Language Circle: Journal of Language and Literature 14(2) April 2020 nic (or scene based on Genette, 1982), speed-up/ describes the setting. In commentary there exists acceleration/ summary, slow-down/ decelera- a telling mode, in which the narrator comments tion, ellipsis/ cut/ omission, and pause; Jahn on the instances of the story like characters, ac- explains these terms mainly referring to Genet- tions, etc., thus the durational aspect evident is te (1982), Rimmon-Kenan (1983), and Toolan again pause (Jahn, 2005). (1988). Speed-up is when an episode’s discourse time is considerably shorter than its story time. NARRATIVE Slow-down occurs when an episode’s discourse time is considerably longer than its story time. Narrative definition Ellipsis is the stretch of story time which is not An indispensable notion in narratological textually represented at all; some crititcs, e.g. Ge- studies is the narrative. Narrative in its broad sen- nette (1982), Rimmon-Kenan (1983), and Too- se may refer to a variety of genres. According to lan (1988) observe ellipsis as a kind of speed-up Barthes (1977), “the narratives of the world are (Jahn, 2005, N5.2.3.). Finally, pause is when dis- numberless” (p.20). The essence of this senten- course time elapses on description or comment, ce is reflected in the writings of other figures, as while story time stops and no action actually ta- well. Fludernik (2006), for instance, believes that kes place. The third main concept in time is the “narrative is all around us” (p. 1). But when we notion of frequency. Frequency answers the ques- speak about narrative, we inevitably think of a ‘li- tion: ‘How often?’. Frequency let’s a narrator to terary’ form, short story or novel. Fludernik wri- hire strategies for recounting events in a summa- tes, narrative is related to the verb ‘narrate’ and tive or repetitive way. Based on Jahn (2005) there that narrative is not just confined to novels or his- are three main frequential modes: a) Singulative torical writings (ibid., p. 1). She further broadens telling RETRACTEDin which the narrator recounts once what the scope of narrative to ‘narration’ and declares happened once; b)Repetitive telling, recounting whatever is narrated is a narrative: several times what happened once; c) Iterative Narrative is associated above all with the telling, recounting once what happened n times act of narration and is to be found wherever so- (ibid., N5.2.4.). meone tells us about something: a newsreader on The third component of this category is the radio, a teacher at school, a school friend in narrative modes. It refers to the ways that a narra- the playground, a fellow passenger on a train, a tive representation can be presented. Jahn makes news-agent, one’s partner over the evening meal, a distinction between telling and showing or the a television reporter, a newspaper columnist or traditional terms mimesis and diegesis, respecti- the narrator in the novel that we enjoy reading be- vely. He asserts showing is when the reader di- fore going to bed. We are all narrators in our daily rectly involves in experiencing or witnessing the lives, in our conversations with others, and some- events of a specific narrative mode. Logically in times we are even professional narrators (should such a situation there remains little or no room we happen to be, say, teachers, press officers or for narratorial mediation (narrative discourse); In comedians). (Fludernik, 2006, p. 1) telling, the narrator has an overt control of the Nash (1994) holds a similar perspective presentation of actions. Jahn (2005) draws a com- toward narratives and says that narratives in one binatory conclusive debate from what has been form or another “permeate virtually all aspects of just elaborated. He believes that for each frequen- our society and social experience”. He expands tial durational relationship (discussed above), the- narrative scope and takes it out from the con- re exists a form of narrative mode that is showing text of literature and expresses narrative can be or telling. Jahn details such relations and links found also in “the recollection of life events, in that in scenic presentation (a durational compo- historical documents and textbooks, in scientific nent), there is a showing mode which presents a explanations of data, in political speeches, and in continuous stream of detailed action events; in day-to-day conversation” (p. xi). such a case, the durational aspect is isochronio- In the above definitions, a sort of ubiqui- us (the story time and discourse time are almost tous nature is devoted to narratives, i.e. they are the same) (N5.2.3.). He continues that in summa- considered to cover a broad range of modes of ry, there is a telling mode in which the narrator expressions. Against these definitions which al- briefly tells readers about a sequence of events, locate a wide scope to narratives, Abbott explains and the durational aspect, is logically, speed-up. that other narratologists (Genette,1980; Prince, In description, Jahn says, where the durational 1987; Chatman, 1978) define narrative in a li- aspect is pause, a sort of telling mode is evident mited sense as a kind of storytelling in which a in which the narrator introduces a character or narrator addresses a narratee, or as the telling of

188 Language Circle: Journal of Language and Literature 14(2) April 2020 some past events (Abbott, 2002). As it is evident 1997; Bordwell, 1985; Rabinowitz, 1987). in this definition, a condition is assumed for a Narrativity is what Schmid also considers. work to be considered narrative, and that is the Schmid (2010) develops his theory of eventful- occurrence of the speech act of telling a story by ness. He defines event as “a special occurrence, an agent called a narrator. Furthermore, this defi- not part of everyday routine, unprecedented inci- nition stresses the telling of a story by a narrator dent, deviation from a normative regularity, mea- which emphasizes a language-based phenome- ningful departure from the norm, crossing of a non, excluding visual or musical narrative forms. prohibition border” (p. 8). Based on Schmid the Narrative has been moreover defined by conditions by which eventfulness is achieved, are: Toolan (2001) in this way: “narrative is a percei- “relevance, unpredictability, persistence, irrever- ved sequence of non-randomly connected events, sibility, and non-iterativity” (pp. 8-12). typically involving, as the experiencing agonist, humans or quasi-humans, or other sentient Narrative genres beings, from whose experience we human can Narrative is not limited to one scope and learn” (p. 2). It seems that for Toolan the feature type, but it is wide and encompasses many gen- of “event sequence” is a necessary feature of a res. Jahn quotes Roland Barthes’ list in which he narrative. mentions some of these genres: There are count- less forms of narrative in the world. First of all, Narrative features (narrativity) there is a prodigious variety of genres, each of There are some major characteristics for which branches out into a variety of media, as narratives introduced and discussed by Toolan if all substances could be relied upon to accom- (2001). He explains that narratives have as their modate man’s stories. Among the vehicles of nar- features:RETRACTEDrative are articulated language, whether oral or a degree of artificial fabrication or constructed- written, pictures, still or moving, gestures, and an ness ordered mixture of all those substances: narrati- a degree of prefabrication ve is present in myth, legend, fables, tales, short “trajectory” meaning that they have a beginning, stories, epic history, tragedy, drame [suspense middle, and an end drama], comedy, pantomime, paintings (in San- a “teller” (even if he is invisible) ta Ursula by Carpaccio, for instance), stained- the feature of “displacement” (the ability of hu- glass windows, movies, local news, conversation. man languages to be able to refer to things or Moreover, in this infinite variety of forms, it is events that are removed, in space or time, either present at all times, in all places, in all societies; from the speaker or the addressee) indeed narrative starts with the very history of narratives involve the “recall” of happe- mankind; there is not, there has never been anyw- nings (Toolan, 2001, pp. 4-5). here, any people without narrative; all classes, all For other features of narratives we may human groups, have their stories, and very often hint at Sternberg who conceives sequentiality to those stories are enjoyed by men of different and be a substantial feature. For him sequentiality even opposite cultural backgrounds *...+. (Bart- is the “the play of suspense/ curiosity/surprise hes, 1975, p. 237; Jahn’s emphases, Cited in Jahn, between represented and communicative time” 2005, N2.2.1. (2010, p. 637). These plays of time which create feelings of suspence, curiosity, and surprise, are CONCLUSION the building blocks of narratives because non-nar- ratives are deprived of such temporalities. This is Narratology as a vast branch of study en- more touchable in descriptive or expository texts tails the analysis of structures that reside in a nar- which are deprived of this feature. When we read rative. What was already discussed in this article such texts, we merely get some information about may give readers a general picture of the narrato- something and we are not involved in it. Narrati- logical world. As it was explicated, narratology ves on the other hand, make readers involved by deals with narratives’ traits which ultimately dis- such plays of time which in turn arise their curio- tinguish them from other genres. The two basic sity and the features Sternberg mentioned. Anot- ever present terms in this fields were realized to her feature, is the causal connections between the be story and discourse which refer to modes of events in a narrative. The literature is rife with presentation and the meaning/content, respecti- this notion that this sense of causal agency can vely. What was emphasized in this investigation account for “a necessary condition of narrativi- (specifically sections 3), was the layers by which ty” (Richardson, 1997, p. 106; White, 1981; Bal, a narrative may be inspected. The surface layer

189 Language Circle: Journal of Language and Literature 14(2) April 2020 of a narrative was the arena on which classical more deeply in narrative and studied its elements narratologists could function. On this layer, they and genres. This was done to give readers a more suffice to explain the basic observable features of comprehensive idea of narratives. language in a specific narrative. They did not go beyond the level of the narrative itself (words, REFERENCES sentences, or the whole written material). Ne- vertheless, the newer approaches in the study and Abbot, H.P. (2009). Narrativity. In Hühn, P., Meister, analysis of a narrative, benefit from other discip- J.C., Pier, J., Schmid, W., Schönert, J. (Eds.). lines. This hybrid approach for narrative analysis Handbook of Narratology. Berlin: Walter de has a wider scope and thus goes beyond textual Gruyter. levels. This kind of approach may include issues Abbott, H.P., (2002). The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univer- about feminism, cognitivism, post-modernism, sity Press. etc. Three sections were devoted to the elements Bal, M., (1991). Narration and focalization. In Bal, M. of which narratology is made up. These elements (Ed.).(2004). Narrative Theory, London: Rout- (narration, focolization, narrative situation, acti- ledge. 1, 263-296. on, story, analysis, tellability, tense, time, and nar- Bal, M., 1997. Narratology: Introduction to the Theo- rative modes), can be viewed and analyzed from ry of Narrative (2nd ed.). Toronto: University a narratological perspective in a specific narrative of Toronto Press. text. What usually is done in the analysis of the- Barthes, R. (1977). Introduction to the structural se elements is to determine how a particular ele- analysis of narratives. In Mcquillan, M. (Ed.). (2000). The Narrative Reader. London: Rout- ment is shown in a narrative or how much it is si- ledge. 109-114. milar/different with regard to the discourse. This Bordwell, D. (1985). Narration in the fiction film. study, focusedRETRACTED on the concept of narrative, too. Madison: U of Wisconsin P. Narratology is vitally dependent on narrative as Chatman, S. (1978). Story and Discourse: Narrative it has a determining role in this field. This study Structure in Fiction and Film. Ithaca and Lon- was a struggle to cover the most crucial and key don: Cornell University Press. concepts relating to narrative as well. The defini- Prince, G. (2003). A Dictionary of Narratology. Lincoln: tion of narrative was put forward in this review. U of Nebraska P. Furthermore, the features which made a piece Toolan, M. (2001). Narrative: A Critical Linguistic In- troduction. London: Routledge. of writing a narrative were scrutinized. To better digest what a narrative is, this article immersed

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