Narrative

Narratives are one of the four most common rhetorical modes of communication, which include description, exposition, and argumentation. A rhetorical mode describes the variety, purpose, and conventions in writing and speaking used to present a subject in a certain manner.

Narrative meaning

A narrative’s function is to tell a series of events. We can define narrative as an account of actual or imagined events in which a narrator communicates information directly to the reader. Narrators relate narratives in either spoken or written form. Narrative organises distinct events, places, characters, and times of action in a coherent structure by using the concept, themes, and plot. Narratives are in all forms of literature and art, such as novels, video games, songs, television shows, and sculptures.

Tip: The earliest method of sharing narrative is oral storytelling, a crucial communal experience that promotes intimacy and connection to rural and urban communities as people share stories about themselves.

Examples of narrative story

Narratives may be as simple as this joke:

Narratives are also complex, multi-volumed accounts of history or fiction, such as Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa (1748), Marcel Proust’s A la recherche du temps perdu (1913-1927), and Wu Cheng’en’s Journey to the West (1592).

If narratives involve actual and imagined events (the story) and the arrangement of those events (the plot), then the study of narratology is the analysis of the literary elements that make up the narrative.

Analysing narratives consists of three main parts: time, characterisation, and focalisation (the more formal expression for ‘point of view’).

'Narrative' refers to how a real or imagined story is told.

For example, Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall (2009) opens with the historical figure Thomas Cromwell. He is our fictional narrator that relates the narrative events of sixteenth-century England.

Narration utilises a narrator to convey a story to an implied reader. How much information the narrator and the narrative tell are a crucial indicator for the analysis of narratives.

The author also chooses narrative techniques (the methods of telling stories such as cliffhangers, flashbacks, narrative hook, allegory) to aid the story’s narration. The story’s setting, the themes of the literary work, the genre, and other storytelling devices are important to the narrative. Through these, the reader understands who is telling the story and how narratives are told and influenced by other narratives.

That structuring is part of the narrative discourse (through which Michel Foucault contributed pioneering work), which focuses on the specific language choices and structure to present a meaningful account of the narrative.

Narrative discourse

Narrative discourse refers to the structural elements of how a narrative is presented. It considers the ways in which a story is told.

Narrative story - definitions and examples

Narratives are involved in both non-fiction and fiction. Let's take a look at each of these in more detail!

Non-fictional narratives

Non-fiction is informative or factual prose writing. Non-fictions still employ storytelling devices to retain the reader’s attention. Thus, narrative non-fiction is a genre that involves a factual account told as a story, which covers memoirs, travelogues, biographies, or true-story documentaries.

Think about your history textbook. Textbooks present historical events in a chronological sequence of events and facts, right? For example, in 1525 Henry VIII met Anne Boleyn. The meeting led to Henry VIII divorcing Catherine of Aragon in 1533 and becoming the Head of the Church of England in 1534 through the First Act of Supremacy.

Ask a historian to explain the past, and they will usually tell you a story that provides the how and why of events in the past. History can then be called a narrative. Since the 1960s, frequent debates have questioned whether history is a narrative. A famous critic is Hayden White, who explained in Metahistory (1973) that narratives are crucial to understanding historical events. History is not just a simple representation of a sequence of events or historical facts. It has a narrative pattern to which we can apply narratological and archetypal theories.

Historical narratives are comprised of both non-narrative sentences (such as business documents, legal papers, and technical manuals) and narrative sentences. Narrative sentences appear in narratives of all sorts and in common speech. However, they refer to at least two time-separated events.

Narratives consist of narrative sentences which make the narrative re-interpretable in light of the facts that occur later in time. Narratives are an explanatory device.

Tip: Consider this question – Are historians storytellers?

Advertisements also use narratives by using storytelling to convey a core message. Persuasion methods, the advertisement’s verbal and visual presentation, and a simple beginning-middle-end sequence help influence customers’ attention towards the product. For example, John Lewis, Marks & Spencers, Sainsbury’s, etc., all have Christmas ads every year that tell a narrative of Christmas cheer and promote messages of kindness and generosity.

Fictional narratives

Fiction is any narrative –either in verse or prose– which focuses on invented characters and events. Fictional narratives focus on a character or characters that interact in a given social setting, which is narrated from a point of view and is based on some sort of sequence of events leading to a resolution that reveals aspects of the characters (i.e. the plot).

Here are the main narrative forms in prose.

• The novel is extended fictional prose of varying lengths.

• The novella is a narrative in prose that is intermediate in length.

• The short story is a narrative in prose that is considered too short to be published on its own.

Literary theorists have classified narratives in many forms (in particular during the 1950s). In these examples, the length of the narratives determines the narrative form. The length also influences how narratives present information or tell stories.

Narrative forms such as a Quest Narrative, a Myth, and Historical Fiction are classified into genres by theme, content, and plot.

Narratives in verse include narrative poetry, which involves the class of poems which tell stories. Narrative poetic forms include the ballad, epics, verse romances, and lai (a lyrical, narrative poem written in octosyllabic couplets). Some narrative poetry appears as a novel in verse and is different from dramatic and lyric poetry.

Narratology description

The study of narratology is concerned with narratives' general theory and practice in all their forms and genres.

Narratologists figure that narratives are a systematic and formal construction with certain rules and genres to follow. We consider narratives as more structured than a story. This is because narratives shape a mere sequence of events in time into an organised and meaningful structure or plot.

How can we define narrative structures?

These are some of the many examples of narrative structures in the English Language.

Linear narrative

A linear narrative is the most common form of narration. The account, or historical events witnessed by the narrator, are presented in chronological order.

Non-linear narrative

A non-linear narrative involves a disjointed narrative, with events presented out-of-order, in a fragmented way, or not following a typical chronological pattern. This structure may involve reverse chronology, which reveals a plot from ending to beginning.

Interactive narrative

Frame narrative

A narrative has many structures, characteristics, and devices for the reader to explore. Analysing narratives is an important part of understanding imagined and real stories and what they mean to the reader.