Coincidence and Counterfactuality

P. Dannenberg Hilary

Description

In Coincidence and Counterfactuality, a groundbreaking analysis of plot, Hilary P. Dannenberg sets out to answer the perennial question of how to tell a good story. While plot is among the most integral aspects of storytelling, it is perhaps the least studied aspect of narrative. Using plot theory to chart the development of narrative fiction from the Renaissance to the present, Dannenberg demonstrates how the novel has evolved over time and how writers have developed increasingly complex narrative strategies that tap into key cognitive parameters familiar to the reader from real-life experience.

 

Dannenberg proposes a new, multidimensional theory for analyzing time and space in narrative fiction, then uses this theory to trace the historical evolution of narrative fiction by focusing on coincidence and counterfactuality. These two key plot strategies are constructed around pivotal moments when characters’ life trajectories, or sometimes the paths of history, converge or diverge. The study’s rich historical and textual scope reveals how narrative traditions and genres such as romance and realism or science fiction and historiographic metafiction, rather than being separated by clear boundaries are in fact in a continual process of interaction and cross-fertilization. In highlighting critical stages in the historical development of narrative fiction, the study produces new readings of works by pinpointing the innovative role played by particular authors in this evolutionary process. Dannenberg’s original investigation of plot patterns is interdisciplinary, incorporating research from narrative theory, cognitive approaches to literature, social psychology, possible worlds theory, and feminist approaches to narrative.

Sujets

• Literary theory

Informations

• Publié par: Nebraska
• Date de parution: 01 juillet 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780803217614
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Coincidence and Counterfactuality

Frontiers of Narrative

Series Editor David Herman, Ohio State University

Coincidence and Counterfactuality Plotting Time and Space in Narrative Fiction

University of Nebraska Press Lincoln and London

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Acknowledgment for previously published material appears on p.233, which constitutes an extension of the copyright page.

©by the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska

All rights reserved

Manufactured in the United States of America ’

Library of Congress Cataloging-in- Publication Data

Dannenberg, Hilary P. Coincidence and counterfactuality: plotting time and space in narrative fiction / Hilary P. Dannenberg.  p. cm. — (Frontiers of narrative) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-8032-1093-6(cloth: alk. paper) 1. Space and time in literature. 2. Coincidence in literature.3. Fiction —Technique.4. Fantasy fiction, English—History and criticism. I. Title. pn3383.s67d36 2008 809.3'9384—dc22 2008001129

Set in Minion. Designed by R. W. Boeche.

For Richard and for Eva, who were my golden links to life while I was writing this book

That was a memorable day to me, for it made great changes in me. But, it is the same with any life. Imagine one selected day struck out of it, and think how different its course would have been. Pause you who read this, and think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day. Charles Dickens,Great Expectations

Contents

List of Figures Preface  Introduction

Part: Theorizing Time and Space  in Narrative Fiction

. Cognitive Plotting Crossing Narrative Boundaries and Connecting Worlds . Ontological Plotting  Narrative as a Multiplicity of Temporal Dimensions . Spatial Plotting Paths, Links, and Portals

Part: Theorizing Coincidence  and Counterfactuality

. The Coincidence Plot . Counterfactuals and Other Alternate Narrative Worlds

Part: Coincidence and Counterfactuality  in the History of Narrative Fiction

. The Metamorphoses of the Coincidence Plot . The Narrative Evolution of Counterfactuals

 Conclusion  Source Acknowledgments  Notes  Glossary of Key Terms  Works Cited  Index

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