SUSANA ONEGA and JOSE ANGEL GARCIA LANDA

Narratology: an Introduction 


A narrative is the semiotic representation of a series of events meaningfully connected in a temporal and causal way. Films, plays, comic strips, novels, newsreels, diaries, chronicles and treatises of geological history are all narratives in this wider sense. Narratives can therefore be constructed using an ample variety of semiotic media: written or spoken language, visual images, gestures and acting, as well as a combination of these. Any semiotic construct, anything made of signs, can be said to be a text. Therefore, we can speak of many kinds of narrative texts: linguistic, theatrical, pictorial, filmic. Any representation involves a point of view, a selection, a perspective on the represented object, criteria of relevance, and, arguably, an implicit theory of reality. Narrative structuring may become most elaborate in literary texts, but narrativization is one of the commonest ways of applying an order and a perspective to experience.

Silvia Bratu

Susana Onega and Jose Angel Garcia Landa
 

Narratology : An Introduction

Naratiunea este reprezentarea semiotica a unei serii de evenimente, legate in mod temporal si cauzal pentru a avea un anumit inteles. Filmele, piesele de teatru, benzile desenate, romanele, jurnalele sonore, jurnalele personale, cronicile si tratatele de istorie geologica sunt toate considerate naratiuni in acest sens larg. Prin urmare, naratiunile pot fi construite utilizand o mare varietate de mijloace semiotice: limbaj scris sau vorbit, imagini, gesturi si interpretare actoriceasca, dar si combinatii ale acestora. Orice constructie semiotica, orice lucru alcatuit din semne, poate fi considerat text. Asadar, putem vorbi de numeroase tipuri de texte narative: lingvistic, scenic, pictural, de film. Orice reprezentare presupune un punct de vedere, o selectie, o perspectiva asupra obiectului reprezentat, criterii de relevanta si, probabil, o implicita teorie asupra realitatii. Structurarea naratiunii poate deveni extrem de elaborata in cazul textelor literare, dar a prezenta prin intermediul unei naratiuni este unul din modurile cele mai obisnuite de a realiza o ordonare si o punere in perspectiva a experientei.