This essay responds to scholarly skepticism about narrative as argument, due to its reliance on h... more This essay responds to scholarly skepticism about narrative as argument, due to its reliance on hindsight effects (because such and such happened, then so and so must be the causes), and its tendency to develop inadequate analogies or to overgeneralize from single cases. The essay contends that, while some uses of narrative as argument display these problems, they are not inherent in narrative itself. It offers warrants for that contention by (a) proposing a conception of narrative as rhetoric and (b) using that conception to analyze two essays by Atul Gawande, “On Washing Hands” (2007) and “Letting Go” (2014) that rely heavily on narrative as part of their larger problem-solution argumentative structure. The analysis leads to the conclusion that a skillful author can, depending on his or her overall purposes, use narrative either as a mode of argument in itself or as a means of supporting arguments made through non-narrative means—and can even use both approaches within a single pi...
While writing this foreword, I assumed that I should yield to the inevitable and title it "B... more While writing this foreword, I assumed that I should yield to the inevitable and title it "Before Reading Before Reading" or perhaps "Before Reading Squared/1 have now, however, decided to resist the inevitable in favor of the literal—and its implied challenge of giving a new spin to the common phrase "reading a book in its own terms." Here's why: As Peter J. Rabinowitz explains early in the in troduction, the book's purpose is "to explore . . . the ways in which Western readers' prior knowledge of conventions of reading shapes their experiences and evaluations of the narratives they confront" (3). But much in Rabinowitz's exploration of conventions, I gradu ally realized, can apply not just to narratives but also to critical texts. Consequently, Before Reading itself provides the most useful terms and concepts to illuminate Rabinowitz's distinctive theoreti cal project. The reading of Rabinowitz's title refers to what he...
« Quelqu’un raconte à quelqu’un d’autre » : une approche rhétorique de la communication narrative
Introduction à la narratologie postclassique, 2018
David Herman a proposé en 1999 le terme narratologie postclassique pour décrire l’état de la rech... more David Herman a proposé en 1999 le terme narratologie postclassique pour décrire l’état de la recherche en narratologie faisant suite à la profusion de révisions apportées à l’approche structuraliste. La vigueur du mouvement postclassique ne s’est pas démentie depuis, avec une série de contributions importantes dans les domaines de la narratologie féministe, cognitive et postcoloniale, par exemple, mais également avec l’avènement d’approches totalement nouvelles, telles que la narratologie « n..
Donald J. Trump's Storytelling, May 12–June 7, 2020; or, Can His Saying Make Things So?
Narrative, 2021
This essay examines President Donald J Trump's storytelling over twenty-seven days in spring ... more This essay examines President Donald J Trump's storytelling over twenty-seven days in spring 2020 in order to explore the ways in which his performances threatened to destroy the genre of nonfiction political narrative in the United States The analysis of these twenty-seven days is framed by a Preface, written from the perspective of January 2021 after the attack on the US Capitol by those who believed Trump's Big Lie that he won the 2020 presidential election—an attack indicating that Trump had almost succeeded in destroying the genre By the spring of 2020, Trump had all but eroded that genre's foundations in referentiality, and his Republican supporters in Congress, in right-wing media, and in the electorate had allowed him to operate on the principle that "my saying makes things so " The events of the spring of 2020, however, especially those accompanying the COVID-19 pandemic, provided the greatest resistance to that principle, because the virus was an extratextual reality that was indifferent to Trump's rhetoric The essay is itself an unfolding narrative, as it traces Trump's storytelling about the pandemic, voting by mail, Barack Obama, and, toward the end of the period, about George Floyd's murder and the protests that followed This thick description of Trump's performances does not end with a definitive judgment about the fate of the genre of nonfiction political narrative, but instead offers insights into the nature and relentlessness of Trump's attack on that genre that in turn shed light on his Big Lie about the 2020 presidential election [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Narrative is the property of Ohio State University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use This abstract may be abridged No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract (Copyright applies to all Abstracts )
Forum 153 5. In my view there is a resonance of intention here with Meir Sternberg's "Proteus Pri... more Forum 153 5. In my view there is a resonance of intention here with Meir Sternberg's "Proteus Principle," though I doubt either theorist would be comfortable with the comparison. Each postulates a determinate series of multiply applicable elements (forms, resources) to generate an indeterminate series of effects. 6. There are, of course, writers of fiction who are not theoretically naïve-indeed, quite comfortable with literary theory (James, Coetzee, Brooke-Rose). But I believe they are a minority. 7. I am guessing sometime after page 161.
In the summer of 2018, James Phelan co-organized the Summer Seminar on Narratology on behalf of P... more In the summer of 2018, James Phelan co-organized the Summer Seminar on Narratology on behalf of Project Narrative at Ohio State University, in collaboration with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and the journal Frontiers of Narrative Studies. During this period, Shang Biwu, the editor of Frontiers of Narrative Studies, had a conversation with Phelan, who talked about important issues such as rhetorical poetics, fictionality, and narrative communication.
Why are CharaCterS nOt in the narrative COMMUniCatiOn MODeL? One of the most influential proposal... more Why are CharaCterS nOt in the narrative COMMUniCatiOn MODeL? One of the most influential proposals of classical narratology is the narrative communication model proposed by Seymour Chatman in his aptly named Story and Discourse (1978) (entities within the box are located in the narrative text):
This essay is a sequel to “Narrative theory, 1966–2006: A narrative,” Chapter 8 of the 2006 editi... more This essay is a sequel to “Narrative theory, 1966–2006: A narrative,” Chapter 8 of the 2006 edition of
This essay responds to scholarly skepticism about narrative as argument, due to its reliance on h... more This essay responds to scholarly skepticism about narrative as argument, due to its reliance on hindsight effects (because such and such happened, then so and so must be the causes), and its tendency to develop inadequate analogies or to overgeneralize from single cases. The essay contends that, while some uses of narrative as argument display these problems, they are not inherent in narrative itself. It offers warrants for that contention by (a) proposing a conception of narrative as rhetoric and (b) using that conception to analyze two essays by Atul Gawande, “On Washing Hands” (2007) and “Letting Go” (2014) that rely heavily on narrative as part of their larger problem-solution argumentative structure. The analysis leads to the conclusion that a skillful author can, depending on his or her overall purposes, use narrative either as a mode of argument in itself or as a means of supporting arguments made through non-narrative means—and can even use both approaches within a single pi...
While writing this foreword, I assumed that I should yield to the inevitable and title it "B... more While writing this foreword, I assumed that I should yield to the inevitable and title it "Before Reading Before Reading" or perhaps "Before Reading Squared/1 have now, however, decided to resist the inevitable in favor of the literal—and its implied challenge of giving a new spin to the common phrase "reading a book in its own terms." Here's why: As Peter J. Rabinowitz explains early in the in troduction, the book's purpose is "to explore . . . the ways in which Western readers' prior knowledge of conventions of reading shapes their experiences and evaluations of the narratives they confront" (3). But much in Rabinowitz's exploration of conventions, I gradu ally realized, can apply not just to narratives but also to critical texts. Consequently, Before Reading itself provides the most useful terms and concepts to illuminate Rabinowitz's distinctive theoreti cal project. The reading of Rabinowitz's title refers to what he...
« Quelqu’un raconte à quelqu’un d’autre » : une approche rhétorique de la communication narrative
Introduction à la narratologie postclassique, 2018
David Herman a proposé en 1999 le terme narratologie postclassique pour décrire l’état de la rech... more David Herman a proposé en 1999 le terme narratologie postclassique pour décrire l’état de la recherche en narratologie faisant suite à la profusion de révisions apportées à l’approche structuraliste. La vigueur du mouvement postclassique ne s’est pas démentie depuis, avec une série de contributions importantes dans les domaines de la narratologie féministe, cognitive et postcoloniale, par exemple, mais également avec l’avènement d’approches totalement nouvelles, telles que la narratologie « n..
Donald J. Trump's Storytelling, May 12–June 7, 2020; or, Can His Saying Make Things So?
Narrative, 2021
This essay examines President Donald J Trump's storytelling over twenty-seven days in spring ... more This essay examines President Donald J Trump's storytelling over twenty-seven days in spring 2020 in order to explore the ways in which his performances threatened to destroy the genre of nonfiction political narrative in the United States The analysis of these twenty-seven days is framed by a Preface, written from the perspective of January 2021 after the attack on the US Capitol by those who believed Trump's Big Lie that he won the 2020 presidential election—an attack indicating that Trump had almost succeeded in destroying the genre By the spring of 2020, Trump had all but eroded that genre's foundations in referentiality, and his Republican supporters in Congress, in right-wing media, and in the electorate had allowed him to operate on the principle that "my saying makes things so " The events of the spring of 2020, however, especially those accompanying the COVID-19 pandemic, provided the greatest resistance to that principle, because the virus was an extratextual reality that was indifferent to Trump's rhetoric The essay is itself an unfolding narrative, as it traces Trump's storytelling about the pandemic, voting by mail, Barack Obama, and, toward the end of the period, about George Floyd's murder and the protests that followed This thick description of Trump's performances does not end with a definitive judgment about the fate of the genre of nonfiction political narrative, but instead offers insights into the nature and relentlessness of Trump's attack on that genre that in turn shed light on his Big Lie about the 2020 presidential election [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Narrative is the property of Ohio State University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use This abstract may be abridged No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract (Copyright applies to all Abstracts )
Forum 153 5. In my view there is a resonance of intention here with Meir Sternberg's "Proteus Pri... more Forum 153 5. In my view there is a resonance of intention here with Meir Sternberg's "Proteus Principle," though I doubt either theorist would be comfortable with the comparison. Each postulates a determinate series of multiply applicable elements (forms, resources) to generate an indeterminate series of effects. 6. There are, of course, writers of fiction who are not theoretically naïve-indeed, quite comfortable with literary theory (James, Coetzee, Brooke-Rose). But I believe they are a minority. 7. I am guessing sometime after page 161.
In the summer of 2018, James Phelan co-organized the Summer Seminar on Narratology on behalf of P... more In the summer of 2018, James Phelan co-organized the Summer Seminar on Narratology on behalf of Project Narrative at Ohio State University, in collaboration with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and the journal Frontiers of Narrative Studies. During this period, Shang Biwu, the editor of Frontiers of Narrative Studies, had a conversation with Phelan, who talked about important issues such as rhetorical poetics, fictionality, and narrative communication.
Why are CharaCterS nOt in the narrative COMMUniCatiOn MODeL? One of the most influential proposal... more Why are CharaCterS nOt in the narrative COMMUniCatiOn MODeL? One of the most influential proposals of classical narratology is the narrative communication model proposed by Seymour Chatman in his aptly named Story and Discourse (1978) (entities within the box are located in the narrative text):
This essay is a sequel to “Narrative theory, 1966–2006: A narrative,” Chapter 8 of the 2006 editi... more This essay is a sequel to “Narrative theory, 1966–2006: A narrative,” Chapter 8 of the 2006 edition of
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