The Garden of Forking Paths: Virtualities and Challenges for Contemporary Narratology

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serval:BIB_C680D66A690F
Type
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Title
The Garden of Forking Paths: Virtualities and Challenges for Contemporary Narratology
Title of the book
Emerging Vectors of Narratology
Author(s)
Baroni Raphaël
Publisher
De Gruyter
Address of publication
Berlin
ISBN
978-3-11-055378-9
ISSN
1612-8427
Publication state
Published
Issued date
2017
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Editor
Hansen Per Krogh, Pier John, Roussin Philippe, Schmid Wolf
Volume
57
Series
Narratologia
Pages
247-263
Language
english
Abstract
From the period that David Herman refers to as classical narratology to the present day, we can observe major shifts in the way plot and narrative sequence are dealt with, giving new insights into the dynamics and indeterminacy of narrative structures. This shift has transformed what used to be considered a symmetrical construction (focusing on the unity of the story shaped by the teller) into a kind of labyrinth in which virtual events become as important as events that have been actually told. Thus, despite a proliferation of epistemologies (functionalism, cognitive science, etc.), postclassical narratologies converge by stating that in order to understand the forms and functions of plots, we must take into account the “dialectical interplay between narrative and consciousness” (Herman 2007). On this basis, it is no longer possible to avoid “the analysis of how readers’ decisions contribute to the construction of the narrative world” (Kafalenos 2001). Commenting on a short story of Borges, “The Garden of Forking Path,” I shall distinguish between different ways of dealing with the virtualities of the story. The potential tensions between these three perspectives can be seen as challenges that contemporary narratology must face when going beyond the mere description of the internal logic of the fabula.
Keywords
plot, possible world, virtuality, Borges, narratology
Create date
10/08/2017 14:11
Last modification date
21/11/2022 8:25
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