Dr. D. B. Gavani
This present paper discusses “point of view”, “perspective” and “focalization” in narratives. The first part deals with the different uses of the concepts in narrative theory and narrative criticism. The focus will first and foremost be on the external perspective of the narrator.
The second part is focused on the cognitive narratology presented by David Herman in Story Worlds and his hypothetical focalization. The difference between narratives and fictional stories would be highlighted with reference to the cognitive analyses.
The two sections are finally connected to prove the applicability of “point of view”, “perspective” and “focalization” to different narrative discourses.
Introduction
Cognitive narratology is a multidisciplinary field blending insights from the study of narrative in the humanities with methodologies and empirical data derived from across the cognitive sciences. The field establishes the construction and interpretation of narratives as fundamental cognitive activities, and posits the interactions between cognition and literary versus “real world” narratives as being of fundamentally similar orders. Our project developed from cognitive narratologist David Herman’s work on “storyworlds,” which analyzes the interdependence of cognition and narrative through the lenses of fictional narrative worlds situated within the contexts of everyday cultural practices. Our primary objective was to compile resources related to new applications of cognitive narratology via analyses of the storyworlds of contemporary British novels selected for their disparate and compelling representations of the interrelationships among cognition, human identity, and culture. We also wished to consider the implications of the present deliberations for a contemporary understanding of the reciprocal powers of narrative and cognition to shape human experience.
As a discipline, narratology began to take shape in 1966, the year in which the French journal Communications brought out a special issue entitled "The Structural Analysis of Narrative" actually, a good working definition. The term narratology itself was coined three years later, by one of the contributors to that special issue, Tzvetan Todorov (1969: 9):
- Narratology : The theory of the structures of narrative. To investigate a structure, or to present a 'structural description', the narratologist dissects the narrative phenomena into their component parts and then attempts to determine functions and relationships.
Practically all theories of narrative distinguish between WHAT is narrated (the 'story') and HOW it is narrated (the 'discourse'). Some theorists, among them Gérard Genette, opt for a narrow meaning of the term 'narrative', restricting narratives to verbally narrated texts (Genette 1988 [1983]: 17); others (Barthes 1975 [1966], Chatman 1990, Bal 1985) argue that anything that tells a story, in whatever genre, constitutes a narrative. It is this latter view which is adopted here. Here, then, are the first and most basic definitions:
- Narrative: Anything that tells or presents a story, be it by text, picture, performance, or a combination of these. Hence novels, plays, films, comic strips, etc., are narratives.
- Story: A sequence of events involving characters. 'Events' include both natural and nonnatural happenings such as floods and car accidents. Characters get involved by being agents causing an event, victims or patients, or beneficiaries or being affected by an event. Linguists further make a distinction between verbs which signal willful 'volitional' acts What does X do? -- jump from a bridge, watch a show and verbs which signal nonvolitional acts or experiences What does X experience? -- falling from a bridge, seeing an accident.
In critical practice, 'events' and 'action' are often used synonymously. If necessary -- as in the case of fables -- the term 'character' must be extended so as to include nonhuman agents such as talking animals.
According to the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, the founding-father of structuralism, any sign consists of a 'signifier' and a 'signified' -- basically, a form and a meaning. For a narrative text -- a complex sign -- the signifier is a 'discourse' a mode of presentation and the signified is a 'story' - an action sequence. Hence, narratological investigation usually pursues one of two basic orientations:
- Discourse Narratology: It analyzes the stylistic choices that determine the form or realization of a narrative text or performance, in the case of films and plays. Also of interest are the pragmatic features that contextualize text or performance within the social and cultural framework of a narrative act.
- Story Narratology : It by contrast, focuses on the action units that 'employ' and arrange a stream of events into a trajectory of themes, motives and plot lines. The notion of employment plays a crucial role in the work of theorists like the historian Hayden White (1996) and cultural philosophers such as Paul Ricoeur (1991) and Michel Foucault. For a more detailed survey of the mechanics of story and plot, and the works of Bremond (1970), Prince (1982), Pavel (1985a), and Ryan (1991).
Further on the story/discourse distinction refer Jakboson (1970 -- French terms enoncé and enonciation), Dolezel (1973: Introduction); Sacks et al. (1974 -- narrative vs conversational turns); Culler (1975a); Chatman (1978: ch. 1); Genette (1989 [1972]: 164-69; Genette (1988: 18, 61-62, 130); Lintvelt (1981: ch. 4.6.2); Bal (1983 [1977]); Fludernik (1993: ch. 1.5 -survey of story and discourse models)
Ultimately, the roots of narratology, like the roots of all Western theories of fiction, go back to Plato's (428-348 BC) and Aristotle's (384-322 BC) distinction between 'mimesis' (imitation) and 'diegesis' (narration). Chatman (1990: ch. 7) uses these concepts to distinguish diegetic narrative genres (epic narratives, novels, short stories) from mimetic narrative genres (plays, films, cartoons); most commentators, however, follow Genette's (1980 [1972]: ch. 4; 1988 [1983]: 49) proposal that narrative fiction is a 'patchwork' of both mimetic and diegetic parts (mainly to be divided into a 'narrative of words' and a 'narrative of events', 1988 [1983]: 43).
The main tenets of discourse narratology are well presented in the writings of Stanzel, Chatman, Cohn, Genette, Bal, Rimmon-Kenan, Lintvelt, and Fludernik. Most of the monographs published in narratology's 'classical' period -- the nineteen seventies and eighties -- are still good introductions to the field, especially Genette (1980 [1972]), Chatman (1978), Cohn (1978), Sternberg (1993 [1978]), Todorov (1981), Prince (1982), Stanzel (1984), and Bal (1985). Particularly useful are Rimmon-Kenan's (1983, revised edition 2002) concise survey, Prince's (1987, revised ed. 2003) dictionary of terms, Onega and Garcia Landa's (1996) reader (containing reprints of many foundational essays), the critical surveys by O'Neill (1994) and Nelles (1997), and the linguistically oriented discussions and exercises in Toolan (2001).
The more recent 'postclassical' variants of narratology are discussed in D. Herman, ed. (1999) and L. Herman and Vervaeck (2005). Today's narratological branches include (among others) a psychoanalytic narratology (Brooks 1984), a historiographic narratology (Cohn 1999), a possible worlds narratology (Ryan 1991; 1998; Ronen 1994; Gutenberg 2000), a legal narratology (Brooks and Gewirtz, eds. 1996); a feminist narratology (Warhol 1989; Lanser 1992; Mezei, ed. 1996), a gender studies narratology (Nünning and Nünning eds 2004), a cognitive narratology (Perry 1979, Sternberg 1993 [1978], Jahn 1997), a 'natural narratology' (Fludernik 1996), a postmodernist narratology (McHale 1987, 1992; Currie 1998), a rhetorical narratology (Phelan 1996, Kearns 1999), a cultural studies narratology (Nünning 2000), a transgeneric narratology (Nünning and Nünning, eds. 2002, Hühn 2004), a political narratolgy (Bal, ed, 2004), and a psychonarratology (Bortolussi and Dixon 2003 [psychometric empirical approach]).
Current researchers emphasize the openness of the discipline, particularly vis à vis linguistics (Fludernik 1993a), cognitive science (Duchan et al. 1995), artificial intelligence (Ryan 1991) and pragmatics (Pratt 1977; Adams 1996). Many of the interdisciplinary threads of postclassical narratology are taken up in Fludernik (1996). For an encyclopedic survey of approaches and trends in modern and ancient narrative theory see the Routledge Encyclopedia of Narrative Theory (Herman, Jahn, Ryan, eds 2005). For a massive (1712 pp.) collection of foundational essays see Bal, ed. (2004 -- vol. 1: Major Issues in Narrative Theory; vol. 2: Special Topics; vol. 3: Political Narratology; vol. 4 Interdisciplinarity).
Recent studies include Abbott (2002), a dedicated transgeneric approach containing chapters on "narrative and life" (ch. 1), narrative rhetoric, cultural masterplots (ch. 4), closure (chs 5, 12), "overreading and underreading" (ch. 7), David Herman (2002), an investigation of the cognitive, stylistic, and linguistic basics of narratology; Marie-Laure Ryan, ed. (2004), a collection of essays on cross- and transmedial forms such as pictures, music, cinema, and computer games.
For a web-based source on narratology turn to the "NarrNet" page at www.narratology.net . This is an interdisciplinary website implemented and maintained by the U of Hamburg, Germany. Among the services offered are an extensive bibliography, a list of researchers, descriptions of various current research projects, events, links, discussion lists and plenty of other useful stuff. The Hamburg
So far we have only alluded to just a few representative forms of narrative. But arguably, narrative has a far wider scope. Consider the famous list submitted by Roland Barthes (from his seminal contribution in Communications 8, mentioned in N2.1.1, above):
There are countless forms of narrative in the world. First of all, there is a prodigious variety of genres, each of which branches out into a variety of media, as if all substances could be relied upon to accommodate man's stories. Among the vehicles of narrative are articulated language, whether oral or written, pictures, still or moving, gestures, and an ordered mixture of all those substances: narrative is present in myth, legend, fables, tales, short stories, epic history, tragedy, drame [suspense drama], comedy, pantomime, paintings (in Santa Ursula by Carpaccio, for instance), stained-glass windows, movies, local news, conversation. Moreover, in this infinite variety of forms, it is present at all times, in all places, in all societies; indeed narrative starts with the very history of mankind; there is not, there has never been anywhere, any people without narrative; all classes, all human groups, have their stories, and very often those stories are enjoyed by men of different and even opposite cultural backgrounds. (Barthes 1975 [1966]: 237; my emphases)
In this passages I have highlighted not only the individual types of narrative but also the various terms used by Barthes for the 'forms' themselves -- 'genres', 'media', 'substances', and 'vehicles'. Here is a taxonomy which imposes a kind of order on Barthes' list.
Obviously, this diagram is not exhaustive but lists representative and typical genres. Actually, it might be a good idea to assume that each tree node has an additional branch leading to an implicit "Other" category, and that this may serve as an empty slot that can be filled with any new category that might come up (this is the way Chatman 1990: 115 handles it). If you come across a genre not accounted for by any prototype -- radio plays? hypertext narratives? comic strips? -- try fitting it in. Note that some forms occur more than once in the tree diagram -- e.g., check nodes for poems and plays.
N2.2.2. As noted above, narratology is concerned with all types of narratives, literary and nonliterary, fictional and nonfictional, verbal and nonverbal. The overarching distinction is clearly that between fictional and nonfictional narratives:
- A fictional narrative presents an imaginary narrator's account of a story that happened in an imaginary world. A fictional narrative is appreciated for its entertainment and educational value, possibly also for providing a vision of characters who might exist or might have existed, and a vision of things that might happen or could have happened. Although a fictional narrative may freely refer to actual people, places and events, it cannot be used as evidence of what happened in the real world.
- A nonfictional narrative (also factual narrative) presents a real-life person's account of a real-life story. Unless there are reasons for questioning an author's credibility, a factual narrative can serve as evidence of what happened in the real world. In principle, the author of a factual narrative is accountable for the truth of its statements and can always be asked How do you know?.
Because of the systematic relatedness of these concepts, many factual narratives such as historiographic texts or biographies have fictional counterparts (historiographic fiction, fictional biographies, etc.) (Cohn 1999). On the notion or 'doctrine' of panfictionality, which questions and subverts the fact/fiction distinction, see Ryan (1997b
As is shown in the following graphic, literary narrative communication involves the interplay of at least three communicative levels. Each level of communication comes with its own set of addressers and addressees (also 'senders' and 'receivers').
This model distinguishes between the levels of action, fictional mediation, and nonfictional communication, and establishes useful points of reference for key terms like author, reader, narrator, and narratee/addressee (for a book-length study on communication in narrative see Coste 1989; for the pragmatic status of narrative statements Hamburger 1977 and Genette 1991).
For example, on the level of nonfictional (or 'real') communication, the author of the short story "The Fishing-Boat Picture" is Alan Sillitoe, and any reader of this text is situated on the same level of communication. Since author and reader do not communicate in the text itself, their level of communication is an 'extratextual' one. However, there are also two 'intratextual' levels of communication. One is the level of narrative mediation (or 'narrative discourse'), where a fictional first-person narrator named Harry tells the fishing-boat picture story to an unnamed addressee or 'narratee' (see N9 for an argument that Harry might be his own narratee). Finally, on the level of action, Harry and his wife Kathy are the major communicating characters of the story. We call this latter level the 'level of action' because we are assuming that speech acts (Austin 1962 [1955], Searle 1974 [1969]) are not categorically different from other acts.
Some theorists add another intermediate level of implied fictional communication (a level below the author-reader level) comprising an implied author (a text's projection of an overarching intratextual authority above the narrator) and an implied reader (a text's overall projection of a reader role, superordinate to any narratee). The main reason for implementing this level is to account for unreliable narration. See Booth (1961), Chatman (1990) [one proposing and the other defending the concept]; Fieguth (1973); Iser (1971, 1972, 1976) [on readers and 'implied readers']; Bal (1981b: 209), Genette (1988 [1983]: ch. 19) [for critical discussion], Nünning (1993), and Kindt and Müller (1999) --
, it is present at all times, in all places, in all societies; indeed narrative starts with the very history of mankind; there is not, there has never been anywhere, any people without narrative; all classes, all human groups, have their stories, and very often those stories are enjoyed by men of different and even opposite cultural backgrounds. (Barthes 1975 [1966]: 237; my emphases)
In this passages I have highlighted not only the individual types of narrative but also the various terms used by Barthes for the 'forms' themselves -- 'genres', 'media', 'substances', and 'vehicles'. Here is a taxonomy which imposes a kind of order on Barthes' list.
Obviously, this diagram is not exhaustive but lists representative and typical genres. Actually, it might be a good idea to assume that each tree node has an additional branch leading to an implicit "Other" category, and that this may serve as an empty slot that can be filled with any new category that might come up (this is the way Chatman 1990: 115 handles it). If you come across a genre not accounted for by any prototype -- radio plays? hypertext narratives? comic strips? -- try fitting it in. Note that some forms occur more than once in the tree diagram -- e.g., check nodes for poems and plays.
N2.2.2. As noted above, narratology is concerned with all types of narratives, literary and nonliterary, fictional and nonfictional, verbal and nonverbal. The overarching distinction is clearly that between fictional and nonfictional narratives:
- A fictional narrative presents an imaginary narrator's account of a story that happened in an imaginary world. A fictional narrative is appreciated for its entertainment and educational value, possibly also for providing a vision of characters who might exist or might have existed, and a vision of things that might happen or could have happened. Although a fictional narrative may freely refer to actual people, places and events, it cannot be used as evidence of what happened in the real world.
- A nonfictional narrative (also factual narrative) presents a real-life person's account of a real-life story. Unless there are reasons for questioning an author's credibility, a factual narrative can serve as evidence of what happened in the real world. In principle, the author of a factual narrative is accountable for the truth of its statements and can always be asked How do you know?.
Because of the systematic relatedness of these concepts, many factual narratives such as historiographic texts or biographies have fictional counterparts (historiographic fiction, fictional biographies, etc.) (Cohn 1999). On the notion or 'doctrine' of panfictionality, which questions and subverts the fact/fiction distinction, see Ryan (1997b
As is shown in the following graphic, literary narrative communication involves the interplay of at least three communicative levels. Each level of communication comes with its own set of addressers and addressees (also 'senders' and 'receivers').
This model distinguishes between the levels of action, fictional mediation, and nonfictional communication, and establishes useful points of reference for key terms like author, reader, narrator, and narratee/addressee (for a book-length study on communication in narrative see Coste 1989; for the pragmatic status of narrative statements Hamburger 1977 and Genette 1991).
For example, on the level of nonfictional (or 'real') communication, the author of the short story "The Fishing-Boat Picture" is Alan Sillitoe, and any reader of this text is situated on the same level of communication. Since author and reader do not communicate in the text itself, their level of communication is an 'extratextual' one. However, there are also two 'intratextual' levels of communication. One is the level of narrative mediation (or 'narrative discourse'), where a fictional first-person narrator named Harry tells the fishing-boat picture story to an unnamed addressee or 'narratee' (see N9 for an argument that Harry might be his own narratee). Finally, on the level of action, Harry and his wife Kathy are the major communicating characters of the story. We call this latter level the 'level of action' because we are assuming that speech acts (Austin 1962 [1955], Searle 1974 [1969]) are not categorically different from other acts.
Some theorists add another intermediate level of implied fictional communication (a level below the author-reader level) comprising an implied author (a text's projection of an overarching intratextual authority above the narrator) and an implied reader (a text's overall projection of a reader role, superordinate to any narratee). The main reason for implementing this level is to account for unreliable narration. See Booth (1961), Chatman (1990) [one proposing and the other defending the concept]; Fieguth (1973); Iser (1971, 1972, 1976) [on readers and 'implied readers']; Bal (1981b: 209), Genette (1988 [1983]: ch. 19) [for critical discussion], Nünning (1993), and Kindt and Müller (1999)
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