Publisher Description

Narratives are artefacts of a special kind: they are intentionally crafted devices which fulfil their story-telling function by manifesting the intentions of their makers. But narrative itself is too inclusive a category for much more to be said about it than this; we should focus attention instead on the vaguely defined but interesting category of things rich in narrative structure. Such devices offer significant possibilities, not merely for the representation ofstories, but for the expression of point of view; they have also played an important role in the evolution of reliable communication. Narratives and narrators argues that much of the pleasure ofnarrative communication depends on deep-seated and early developing tendencies in human beings to imitation and to joint attention, and imitation turns out to be the key to understanding such important literary techniques as free indirect discourse and character-focused narration. The book also examines irony in narrative, with an emphasis on the idea of the expression of ironic points of view. It looks closely at the idea of character, or robust, situation-independent ways of acting andthinking, as it is represented in narrative. It asks whether scepticism about the notion of character should have us reassess the dramatic and literary tradition which places such emphasis on character.

Author Biography

Gregory Currie is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Nottingham.

Table of Contents

PrefaceAcknowledgementsAnalytical contents1: Representation2: The content of narrative3: Two ways of looking at a narrative4: Authors and narrators5: Expression and imitation6: Resistance7: Character-focused narration8: Irony: a pretended point of view9: Dis-interpretation10: Narrative and character11: Character scepticismIn ConclusionBibliographyIndexes

Review

`Review from previous edition abounds in analyses and arguments'Times Literary Supplement`an ambitious, careful, and philosophically rich work containing a number of novel and important arguments ... The book has many virtues, and the greatest of them might be that it opens up new areas for exploration in the philosophic study of narrative'Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews`The book is ambitious in its topics and contains fresh approaches to various traditional problems ... full of thought-provoking arguments and intriguing proposals.'Jukka Mikkonen, Mind

Promotional

An original examination of the role of narrative in human thought

Long Description

Narratives are artefacts of a special kind: they are intentionally crafted devices which fulfil their story-telling function by manifesting the intentions of their makers. But narrative itself is too inclusive a category for much more to be said about it than this; we should focus attention instead on the vaguely defined but interesting category of things rich in narrative structure. Such devices offer significant possibilities, not merely for the representation of
stories, but for the expression of point of view; they have also played an important role in the evolution of reliable communication. Narratives and narrators argues that much of the pleasure of narrative communication depends on deep-seated and early developing tendencies in human beings to
imitation and to joint attention, and imitation turns out to be the key to understanding such important literary techniques as free indirect discourse and character-focused narration. The book also examines irony in narrative, with an emphasis on the idea of the expression of ironic points of view. It looks closely at the idea of character, or robust, situation-independent ways of acting and thinking, as it is represented in narrative. It asks whether scepticism about the notion of character
should have us reassess the dramatic and literary tradition which places such emphasis on character.

Review Text

`Review from previous edition abounds in analyses and arguments
'
Times Literary Supplement
`an ambitious, careful, and philosophically rich work containing a number of novel and important arguments ... The book has many virtues, and the greatest of them might be that it opens up new areas for exploration in the philosophic study of narrative
'
Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
`The book is ambitious in its topics and contains fresh approaches to various traditional problems ... full of thought-provoking arguments and intriguing proposals.'
Jukka Mikkonen, Mind

Review Quote

Review from previous edition: "abounds in analyses and arguments" --Times Literary Supplement

Feature

An original examination of the role of narrative in human thought
The first book in analytical philosophy to present a general theory of narrative
Opens up a rich new area of philosophical research
Wide range of literary and cultural reference
Features detailed case-study of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds

Details