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Advanced Narrative Structures
An overview
Within a narrative, many different structures are present. These narrative structures can be obvious
or less obvious to the reader; depending on how readily the (unobservant) reader discerns them in
the work they are consuming. One most easily recognised by the reader is ‘theme’, which is the
structure of various events which all share a common element, that together form the message (also
called theme) of the book. There are also structures of time and how it flows, or is disrupted,
throughout the narrative. Yet in most cases all events which occur within a single narrative can be
distilled into (often) seven key parts which construct the plotline (or ‘plot’). It is the reader who
actively assumes there is a plotline and who tries to reconstruct it with the information presented in
the book. It is this search which is the actual act of reading; the filling in of gaps by the reader to
complete the picture of what they assume is the logical order of events. Yet there are two parts to a
narrative; the events as reconstructed by the reader (in this chapter referred to as ‘story’), but also
the events as represented in the book (referred to as ‘plot’)
So, where the story is the object constructed
by the reader; the plot is that which has been
constructed by the author. It is the ‘how’ to the ‘what’.
A reader tries to reconstruct the ‘what’; what has
happened, what are the motives of various characters,
what are their goals; from the mess of representations
within the novel. However, novels often do not follow
a strict, clear and hierarchical event structure; but are
instead a mess of such constructions such as for
example; analepses, prolepses, foreshadowing’s and
leaps of time. The more advanced a piece of literature,
the more likely they seek to disrupt the organisation,
as to engage the reader more in the reading of the
work.
This mess is, at times, only created on an
event level; the reader has too little information to
know exactly what is going on at a particular time, or
to predict what is going to happen next. However,
certain novels do not only structure the events in a
strange way, but move beyond this surface level and seek to restructure their physically appearance
in a strange way. The most notable example is House of Leaves by Danielewski (2000) where the
strange events which occur to find their reflection in the way the page is structured; as shown in the
image. Another Example would be The Ship of Theseus (2013) which adopts the form of a library
book in which two people communicate in the margins of a book; creating an interplay between
three different narratives; the narrative of the ‘library book’, the retelling of the quest of two
individuals to solve the mystery behind the author of the library book, and the interplay between
those two people and their developing relationship.
These choices, we can assume, are not random; often serving a purpose within the large
scope of the book. It is worthwhile for a researcher and an active reader to reflect upon these
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Advanced Narrative Structures
An overview
Within a narrative, many different structures are present. These narrative structures can be obvious
or less obvious to the reader; depending on how readily the (unobservant) reader discerns them in
the work they are consuming. One most easily recognised by the reader is ‘theme’, which is the
structure of various events which all share a common element, that together form the message (also
called theme) of the book. There are also structures of time and how it flows, or is disrupted,
throughout the narrative. Yet in most cases all events which occur within a single narrative can be
distilled into (often) seven key parts which construct the plotline (or ‘plot’). It is the reader who
actively assumes there is a plotline and who tries to reconstruct it with the information presented in
the book. It is this search which is the actual act of reading; the filling in of gaps by the reader to
complete the picture of what they assume is the logical order of events. Yet there are two parts to a
narrative; the events as reconstructed by the reader (in this chapter referred to as ‘story’), but also
the events as represented in the book (referred to as ‘plot’)
So, where the story is the object constructed
by the reader; the plot is that which has been
constructed by the author. It is the ‘how’ to the ‘what’.
A reader tries to reconstruct the ‘what’; what has
happened, what are the motives of various characters,
what are their goals; from the mess of representations
within the novel. However, novels often do not follow
a strict, clear and hierarchical event structure; but are
instead a mess of such constructions such as for
example; analepses, prolepses, foreshadowing’s and
leaps of time. The more advanced a piece of literature,
the more likely they seek to disrupt the organisation,
as to engage the reader more in the reading of the
work.
This mess is, at times, only created on an
event level; the reader has too little information to
know exactly what is going on at a particular time, or
to predict what is going to happen next. However,
certain novels do not only structure the events in a
strange way, but move beyond this surface level and seek to restructure their physically appearance
in a strange way. The most notable example is House of Leaves by Danielewski (2000) where the
strange events which occur to find their reflection in the way the page is structured; as shown in the
image. Another Example would be The Ship of Theseus (2013) which adopts the form of a library
book in which two people communicate in the margins of a book; creating an interplay between
three different narratives; the narrative of the ‘library book’, the retelling of the quest of two
individuals to solve the mystery behind the author of the library book, and the interplay between
those two people and their developing relationship.
These choices, we can assume, are not random; often serving a purpose within the large
scope of the book. It is worthwhile for a researcher and an active reader to reflect upon these
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