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Narrative in Fiction and Film

An Introduction

Jakob Lothe author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Oxford University Press

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Narrative in Fiction and Film cover

Narrative in Fiction and Film gives a clear presentation of key concepts of narrative theory. A growing field in the humanities, narrative theory (or 'narratology') studies such narratives, thus discussing central questions concerning human communication. This introductory book has a two-part structure: Part I presents key concepts of narrative theory - for example, author, narrator, time, perspective, event, characterization. The discussion is oriented towards narrative fiction and centred on literary texts, yet since film can also have an important narrative dimension, the film aspect is brought into each chapter. Part II analyses five prose texts: the parable of the sower in St. Mark's Gospel, Franz Kafka's The Trial, James Joyce's 'The Dead', Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, and Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse. Part II also discusses film versions of four of these texts: Orson Welles's The Trial, John Huston's The Dead, Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, and Colin Gregg's To the Lighthouse. The book brings together and lucidly presents concepts and theories in narrative theory, and illustrates and tests theses theories. It will be an invaluable text for undergraduates studying narrative theory as part of a literature or film studies course.

'This is a valuable book, not least because of its inter-disciplinary nature; but it will be considered somewhat specialist by most students of film. Its focus on narrative and what this can mean in the broadest sense make it possible to see it as a useful tool within the expanding area of creative writing as an undergraduate discipline, particularly when students are asked to theorise their own narrative strategies or to experiment with different forms of narrative.' THES May 2000

ISBN: 9780198752325

Dimensions: 233mm x 155mm x 14mm

Weight: 396g

266 pages