Description
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The narrator (the answer to the question "who is speaking?") is a commonly used notion in the teaching of literature and in literary criticism, even though it is the object of a theoretical debate which is still too little known. Clarifying it requires an historical and epistemological approach to the opposition between communicational theories of narrative in general (no difference between fictional narrative, non-fictional narrative and communicational discourse) and non-communicational or poetic theories of the fictional narrative in particular (these theories are based on a thorough study of the linguistic and textual peculiarities of fictional narrative). The articles gathered here confront the two approaches starting from problems such as the identity and difference between certain terms and concepts, the refutation of theories, the reinterpretation of old theories within new theories, the historicity of translations...
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CONTENTSINTRODUCTION 1CHAPTER I: THE DEATH OF THE NARRATORAND THE INTERPRETATION OF THE NOVEL:THE EXAMPLE OF PEDRO PÁRAMO BY JUAN RULFO 131. Pedro Páramo: A Complex Novelistic Montage 132. Pedro Páramo According to Communicational Theories of Narrative(Critical Reception of Pedro Páramo) 163. Pedro Páramo According to Non-communicational or Poetic Theories ofFictional Narrative 23CHAPTER II: HOMONYMY IN GENETTE, OR THE RECEPTIONOF THE HISTORY/DISCOURSE (HISTOIRE/DISCOURS) OPPOSITIONIN THEORIES OF FICTIONAL NARRATIVE 301. Homonymies and Synonymies in Todorov and Genette 31 1.1. Todorov: Story and Discourse 31 1.2. Genette: Narrative and Discourse 34 1.3. Genette: Story, Narrative (Narrative Discourse), and Narrating 35 1.4. Genette's Revision of Benveniste's History/Discourse Opposition 362. Benveniste, Hamburger: a Comparison 383. The Use of the Alignment between Benvenisteand Hamburgerby Kuroda and Banfield 41 3.1. The Critique of the Communicational Theory of Narration 41 3.2. Banfield: The Two Sentences that Characterize Fictional Narration 42CHAPTER III: HOMONYMY, POLYSEMY AND SYNONYMY:REFLECTIONS ON THE NOTION OF VOICE 451. Voice in Communicational Theories of Narrative 462. Voice and Kuroda and Banfield's Critique of Communicational Theoriesof Fictional Narrative 55CHAPTER IV: FICTIONAL NARRATIVES BEFORE 1850: INSTANCES OF REFUTATION FOR POETIC THEORIES OF NARRATION? 63CHAPTER V: INTERVIEW 77CHAPTER VI: UNSPEAKABLE SENTENCES: NARRATION AND REPRESENTATIONIN BENEDETTI'S "FIVE YEARS OF LIFE" 861. Preliminary Remarks 862. An Unspeakable Ending 90 2.1. Raúl, Mirta and the "Appleton Girl" (or the False Ending) 90 2.2. Raúl, or the Recognition (The Surprise Ending) 953. From Description to Interpretation 98Annex 102CHAPTER VII: UNSPEAKABLE IMAGES: ON THE INTERPLAYBETWEEN VERBAL AND ICONIC NARRATIONIN BENEDETTI'S "CINCO AÑOS DE VIDA" ("FIVE YEARS OF LIFE") 1051. Preliminary Remarks 1052. Another Unspeakable Narrative 109 2.1. A Playful Relationship to the Idea of Narrative 109 2.2. The Narrative Possibilities and Constraints of the Medium 111 2.3. Toward a Critical Use of Intermedial Comparison 116CHAPTER VIII: TRANSLATING S.-Y. KURODA: PAST AND PRESENT 1201. The Translatability of Kuroda's Essays 1202. Critique of Translations and Occasional Re-Translations 1233. Translating Kuroda Today 130CHAPTER IX: NARRATOLOGICAL CATEGORIES AND THE (NON-)DISTINCTIONBETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE IN NARRATIVE THEORY 135CHAPTER X: NO-NARRATOR THEORIES/OPTIONAL-NARRATOR THEORIES: RECENT PROPOSALS AND CONTINUING PROBLEMS: TOWARD A HISTORY OF CONCEPTS IN NARRATIVE THEORY 1531. A Survey of Recent Proposals1532. A General Lack of Historical Perspective 1623. Toward a History of Concepts in Narrative Theory 165REFERENCES 1691. Source of the Examples 1692. Works Cited 169INDEX 191
