paper-7 , Literary theory and criticism

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Name: Brijal N. Oza

Course: M.A. English (sem-2)

Paper no.: 7, literary theory and criticism

Topic: Gerard Ganette’s Narratology

Roll no.: 23

Year: 2015 – 2017

Email ID: brijaloza1994@gmail.com

Submitted to: S.B. Gardi, Department of English

                        M.K. Bhavnagar University

        GERARD GENETTE’S NARRATOLOGY

·     Introduction of the Writer:

                Gerard Genette (born-1930) is a French literary theorist, associated in particular with the structuralist movement and such figures as Roland Barthes and Claude Levi – Strauss, from whom he adapted the concept of ‘bricolage’.

                He is largely responsible for the reintroduction of a rhetorical vocabulary into literary criticism, for example such terms as trope and metonymy. Additionally his work on narrative, best known in English through the selection “Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method”, has been of importance. His major work is the multi part Figures series, of which Narrative Discourse is a section.

                His international influences is not as great as that of some others identified with structuralism, such as Roland Barthes and Claude Levi-Strauss; his work is more often included in selections or discussed in secondary works than studied in its own right. Terms and techniques originating in his vocabulary and systems have, however, become widespread, such as the term paratext for prefaces, introductions, illustrations or other material accompanying the text, or hypo text for the sources of the text.

·      What is Narratology?

                In dictionary meaning, “The branch of knowledge or criticism that deals with the structure and function of narrative and its themes, conventions and symbols”.

                In order to understand, Narratology contribution to semiotics, it is important to grasp the distinction between its three fundamental entities: story, narrative, and narration. Narratology, in literary theory the study of narrative structure. Narratology looks at what narratives have in common and what makes one different from another. Narratology refers to both the theory and the study of narrative and narrative structure and the ways that these affect our perception.

                In Narratology, narrative structure is a literary element. It is generally described as the structural framework that underlines the order and manner in which a narrative is presented to a reader, listener or viewer. Generally, the narrative structure of any work like, be it a film, play or novel – contains a plot, theme and resolution.  

·      Five Aspects of Narratology:

              This outline of Genette’s Narratology is derived from “Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method”. This book form part of his multi- volume work Figures I-III. The examples used in it are mainly drawn from Proust’s epic “In Search of Lost Time”.      One criticism which had been used against previous forms of Narratology was that they could deal only with simple stories, such as Vladimir Prop’s work in “Morphology of the Folk Tale”. If Narratology could cope with Proust, this could no longer be said. 

              In Gerard Genette’s Essay, he discusses five aspects of Narratology. Gerard Genette gives the Narratology in order to understand the structure of the literature.

              Below are the five main concepts used by Genette in Narratology discourse: An Essay in Method. They are primarily used to look at the syntax of narratives, rather than to perform an interpretation of them.

Five aspects are: 1) Order

                              2) Frequency

                              3) Duration

                              4) Voice

                              5) Mood

·      ORDER

          This concept is totally upon the circumstances and the situation which take place in the narration. How the story is said by the writer is important. In this concept we can include the flashback technique and the revelation of an important event.

      In order, a story is as follow:

Ø murder occurs (event – A)

Ø The circumstances of the murder are revealed to a detective (event – B)

Ø The murderer is caught (event – C)

For example: “36 China Town”, in this movie we can see the same event as we discussed early that first murder occurs then characters and murderer is revealed by the detective (inspector) and at the end murderer is caught and then end of the story.

Arranged chronologically the events run as:

Ø A1 (a murder occurs)

Ø B2 (the circumstances of murder revealed)

Ø C3 (at the end murderer is caught)

And arranged in the text they run as:

Ø B1 (discovery)

Ø A2 (flashback)

Ø C3 (resolution)

This accounts for the ‘obvious’ effects the reader will recognize, such as flashback. It also deals with the structure of narratives on a more systematic basis, accounting for flash – forward, simultaneously, as well as possible, if rarely used effects. These disarrangements on the level of order are termed ‘anarchrony’.

·      FREQUENCY:

              In this first concept he talks about the different order of the different texts and films etc. the separation between an event and its narration allows several possibilities:

1) An event can occur once and be narrated once (singular) ex.: ‘Today I went to the school’.

2)  An event can occur n times and be narrated once (iterative) ex.: ‘I used to go to the school’.

3) An event can occur once and be narrated n times (repetitive) ex.: ‘today I went to the school’ + ‘today he went to the school’.

4) An event can occur n times and be narrated n times (multiple) ex.: ‘today I go to the school’ + ‘he used to go to the school’.

         For example, an event can occur once and be narrated once (singular). In the movie “Rang de Basanti” we will find that the characters are shown as they are the freedom fighters repeatedly. Or in the novel “White Tiger”, we will find the word ‘door’ used by the writer.

         An event can occur n times and be narrated once (iterative). In the movie “Gajini”, we will find that because of the villain Gajini, the hero is spending sleepless nights. The narration of this event comes only once in the movie but we can see the narration of the sleepless nights of the hero.

         An event can occur and be narrated n times (repetitive). Here I would like to give the example of the example of the novel “Bluest Eye”. In which the protagonist suffers a lot and her molestation by her father, which is narrated once but we can see her suffering a lot (after effects of her rap by her father). Another example of the novel “Half Girlfriend” by Chetan Bhagat that Madhav don’t know how to speak English properly and this kind of events and narration we will find time and again in the novel.

·      DURATION:

              The separation between an event and its narration that there is discourse time and narrative time. These are the two main elements of duration.

1) “Five years passed”, has a lengthy discourse time, five years, but a short narrative time (it only took a second to read).

2) James Joyce’s novel “Ulysses” has a relatively short discourse time, twenty-four hours. Not many people, however, could read Ulysses in twenty-four. Thus, it is safe to say it has a lengthy narrative time.

                  As an example, it takes just a second in passing the 5 or 10 years in the novel where as some times our more time passes where as in the novel it was just an hour. In Raj Kumar Hirani’s movie, “3 Idiots”, in its Farhan who narrates the story. For example in the novel “To the light House”, we will find the time passes in the second part.

·      VOICE:

              Voice is concerned with two questions: 1) who narrates? And from where? This can be split four ways.

Where the narration is from:

1) Intra – diegetic: inside the text. Ex.: Willkie Collins’ The Woman in White (1859)

2) Extra – diegetic: outside the text. Ex.: Thomas hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles

Is the narrator a character in the story?

1) Hetero – diegetic: the narrator is not a character in the story. Ex. Homer’s “The Odyssey” or also in “Samay” in Mahabharat.

2)   Homo – diegetic: the narrator is a character in the story. Ex.: Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights pilgrim’s Progress.

·      MOOD:

              Genette said narrative mood is dependent on the ‘distance’ and ‘perspective’ of the narrator, and like music, narrative mood has predominant patterns. It is related to voice. Distance of the narrator changes with narrated speech, transposed speech and reported speech. Perspective of the narrator is called focalization. Narratives can be non-focalized, internally focalized or externally focalized. Like music it also has a kind of pattern.

Here, some of the examples of the movies and serials which show us five parts of Narratology:

v Here, I have tried to analyze the movie ‘Ek Villain’ is released in 2014 and Indian thriller directed by Mohit Suri. In order, it has B then A then C, the event/murder has already occurred. It starts with the funeral of the Aisha (Shradhdha Kapoor). After movie went to the flashback, where Guru (Sidhdharth Malhotra) remembers the time which they spend together present and it ends after hero takes revenge of his beloved’s murder. In frequency, the dialogue “A…. Villain….” is repeatedly used in the movie, though it was just spoken only one time by heroin, it gives her remembrance to him. In duration, the narrator takes us two years back in past. In voice, narrator is unknown, even he is not character “I” the story. And in the mood, the narrator is compassionate with the pain of hero.  

v In serials like, Crime Patrol and C.I.D help us to understand the Narratology where we find order, mood, duration, narrative techniques etc. First the murder is attempted then the officers come to know about it and then the culprit is caught.

vThe movie “Gurv” is also in the sequence of B1 (discovery), A2 (flashback), C3 (resolution). In which the protagonist is in the jail as he had committed a murder, after it flashback came and at the end we came to know about that why he had committed a crime.

vWhere in the movie of “Drishyam” is arranged in the sequence of A1 (murder occurs), B2 (circumstances of murder is revealed), C3 (at the end, murderer is caught). This is Bollywood movie with the genre of mystery and thriller directed by Nishikant Kamat.  The movie starts with the ending part of story but the beginning scene of the movie and the protagonist flows in flashback sitting in a police station and a murder occurs and in B2 part, where the circumstances are revealed to the audience properly but not to the detectives, they know the mystery of murder but there is lack of evidence. But in the C3 part, murderer should be caught but in the movie, murderer has successfully escaped and living happily.

                        So, at the end, we can say that Gerard Genette’s Narratology is shown in movies, serials, novels and his five aspects is also we can see in the novels, moves and T.V. serials.
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