Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan Boeken

A synthesis of approaches to narrative fiction, considering Anglo-American New Criticism, Russian Formalism and French Structuralism that formulates the ways readers can, should, and do read narrative fiction.

What is a narrative? What is narrative fiction? How does it differ from other kinds of narrative? What featuers turn a discourse into a narrative text? Now widely acknowledged as one of the most significant volumes in its field, Narrative Fiction turns its attention to these and other questions. In contrast to many other studies, Narrative Fiction is organized arround issues - such as events, time, focalization, characterization, narration, the text and its reading - rather than individual theorists or approaches. Within this structure, Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan addresses key approaches to narrative fiction, including New Criticism, formlaism, structuralism and phenomenology, but also offers views of the modifications to these theroies. While presenting an analysis of the system governing all fictional narratives, whether in the form of novel, short story or narrative poem, she also suggests how individual narratives can be studied against the background of this general system. A broad range of literary examples illustrate key aspects of the study. This edition is brought fully up-to-date with an invaluable new chapter, reflecting on recent developments in narratology. Readers are also directed to key recent works in the field. These additions to a classic text ensure that Narrative Fiction will remain the ideal starting point for anyone new to narrative theory.

Exploring the interplay of representation and subjectivity, the author argues for their responsible discourse despite poststructuralism's challenges. Rather than engaging in abstract theory, the book draws on twentieth-century narratives that focus on these themes, offering a fresh perspective that transcends traditional and poststructuralist views. This approach provides a nuanced understanding of how these concepts can be reinterpreted in contemporary discussions.

The essays in this collection combine fresh interpretations of well known literary texts by leading critics (such as Frank Kermode, Sandra Gilbert, J. Hillis Miller, Barbara Hardy, Tony Tanner, and many others), those critics' retrospective thinking about their individual professional development, and an implicit communal reflection on changes on the critical and cultural scene of our times. It shows a transition from closed systems to more open configurations and from a view of texts as autonomous to complex interactions between text and context. Within the latter framework, ethical, social, ideological, political (feminist, post-colonial), psychoanalytic, and biographical dimensions of various texts are explored.