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GrardGenette
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GrardGenette(born1930)isaFrenchliterarytheorist,associatedinparticularwiththestructuralist
movementandsuchfiguresasRolandBarthesandClaudeLviStrauss,fromwhomheadaptedtheconceptof
bricolage.
Contents
1 Life
2 Work
3 ImportantconceptsinGenette'snarratology
3.1 Order
3.2 Frequency
3.3 Duration
3.4 Voice
3.5 Mood
4 Decorations
5 Selectedworks
6 Seealso
7 References
Life
GenettewasborninParis,wherehestudiedattheLyceLakanalandthecoleNormaleSuprieure.
AfterleavingtheFrenchCommunistParty,GenettewasamemberofSocialismeouBarbarieduring19578.[1]
HereceivedhisprofessorshipinFrenchliteratureattheSorbonnein1967.
In1970he,HlneCixousandTzvetanTodorovfoundedthejournalPotiqueandheeditedaseriesofthe
samenameforditionsduSeuil.
Amongotherpositions,Genettewasresearchdirectoratthecoledeshautestudesensciencessociales[2]and
avisitingprofessoratYaleUniversity.
Work
Genetteislargelyresponsibleforthereintroductionofarhetoricalvocabularyintoliterarycriticism,for
examplesuchtermsastropeandmetonymy.Additionallyhisworkonnarrative,bestknowninEnglishthrough
theselectionNarrativeDiscourse:AnEssayinMethod,hasbeenofimportance.[2]Hismajorworkisthemulti
partFiguresseries,ofwhichNarrativeDiscourseisasection.Histrilogyontextualtranscendence,whichhas
alsobeenquiteinfluential,iscomposedofIntroductionl'architexte(1979),Palimpsests:Literatureinthe
SecondDegree(1982),andParatexts.ThresholdsofInterpretation(1997).[3]
Hisinternationalinfluenceisnotasgreatasthatofsomeothersidentifiedwithstructuralism,suchasRoland
BarthesandClaudeLviStrausshisworkismoreoftenincludedinselectionsordiscussedinsecondaryworks
thanstudiedinitsownright.Termsandtechniquesoriginatinginhisvocabularyandsystemshave,however,
becomewidespread,suchasthetermparatextforprefaces,introductions,illustrationsorothermaterial
accompanyingthetext,orhypotextforthesourcesofthetext.
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ImportantconceptsinGenette'snarratology
ThisoutlineofGenette'snarratologyisderivedfromNarrativeDiscourse:AnEssayinMethod.Thisbook
formspartofhismultivolumeworkFiguresIIII.TheexamplesusedinitaremainlydrawnfromProust'sepic
InSearchofLostTime.Onecriticismwhichhadbeenusedagainstpreviousformsofnarratologywasthatthey
coulddealonlywithsimplestories,suchasVladimirPropp'sworkinMorphologyoftheFolkTale.If
narratologycouldcopewithProust,thiscouldnolongerbesaid.
BelowarethefivemainconceptsusedbyGenetteinNarrativeDiscourse:AnEssayinMethod.Theyare
primarilyusedtolookatthesyntaxofnarratives,ratherthantoperformaninterpretationofthem.
Order
Sayastoryisnarratedasfollows:thecluesofamurderarediscoveredbyadetective(eventA)the
circumstancesofthemurderarefinallyrevealed(eventB)andlastlythemurdereriscaught(eventC).
Addcorrespondingnumberstotheletteredeventsthatrepresenttheirorderchronologically:1,2,and3.
Iftheseeventsweredescribedchronologically,theywouldrunB1,A2,C3.Arrangedinthetext,however,they
runA2(discovery),B1(flashback),C3(resolution).
Thisaccountsforthe'obvious'effectsthereaderwillrecognise,suchasflashback.Italsodealswiththe
structureofnarrativesonamoresystematicbasis,accountingforflashforward,simultaneity,aswellas
possible,ifrarelyused,effects.Thesedisarrangementsontheleveloforderaretermed'anachrony'.
Frequency
Theseparationbetweenaneventanditsnarrationallowsseveralpossibilities.
Aneventcanoccuronceandbenarratedonce(singular).
'TodayIwenttotheshop.'
Aneventcanoccurntimesandbenarratedonce(iterative).
'Iusedtogototheshop.'
Aneventcanoccuronceandbenarratedntimes(repetitive).
'TodayIwenttotheshop'+'Todayhewenttotheshop'etc.
Aneventcanoccurntimesandbenarratedntimes(multiple).
'Iusedtogototheshop'+'Heusedtogototheshop'+'Iwenttotheshopyesterday'etc.
Duration
Theseparationbetweenaneventanditsnarrationmeansthatthereisdiscoursetimeandnarrativetime.These
arethetwomainelementsofduration.
"Fiveyearspassed",hasalengthynarrativetime,fiveyears,butashortdiscoursetime(itonlytooka
secondtoread).
JamesJoyce'snovelUlysseshasarelativelyshortnarrativetime,twentyfourhours.Notmanypeople,
however,couldreadUlyssesintwentyfourhours.Thusitissafetosayithasalengthydiscoursetime.
Voice
Voiceisconcernedwithwhonarrates,andfromwhere.Thiscanbesplitfourways.
Wherethenarrationisfrom
Intradiegetic:insidethetext.e.g.WilkieCollins'TheWomaninWhite
Extradiegetic:outsidethetext.e.g.ThomasHardy'sTessoftheD'Urbervilles
Isthenarratoracharacterinthestory?
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Heterodiegetic:thenarratorisnotacharacterinthestory.e.g.Homer'sTheOdyssey
Homodiegetic:thenarratorisacharacterinthestory.e.g.EmilyBront'sWutheringHeights
Mood
Genettesaidnarrativemoodisdependentonthe'distance'and'perspective'ofthenarrator,andlikemusic,
narrativemodehaspredominantpatterns.Itisrelatedtovoice.
Distanceofthenarratorchangeswithnarratedspeech,transposedspeechandreportedspeech.
Perspectiveofthenarratoriscalledfocalization.Narrativescanbenonfocalized,internallyfocalizedor
externallyfocalized.[4]
Decorations
OfficeroftheOrderofArtsandLetters(2016)[5]
Selectedworks
FiguresIIII,196770(elevenselectedessaysfromFiguresIIIItranslatedasFiguresofLiterary
Discourse,1982selectionsofFiguresIIIonnarratologytranslatedasNarrativeDiscourse:AnEssayin
Method,1980).
Mimologiques:voyageenCratylie,1976(translatedasMimologics,1995).
Introductionl'architexte,1979.
Palimpsestes:Lalittratureauseconddegr,1982.(Palimpsests:literatureintheseconddegree)
Nouveaudiscoursdurcit,1983(translatedasNarrativeDiscourseRevisited,1988).
Seuils,1987.(translatedasParatexts.Thresholdsofinterpretation,1997)
Fictionetdiction,1991.
L'uvredel'art,1:Immanenceettranscendence,1994.
L'uvredel'art,2:Larelationesthtique,1997.
FiguresIV,1999.
FiguresV,2002.
Mtalepse:Delafigurelafiction,2004.
Bardadrac,2006.
Seealso
Hypertext(semiotics)
Hypotext
References
1.Gabler,Andrea(2006)."ArbeitsanalyseundSelbstbestimmungZurBedeutungundAktualittvonSocialismeou
Barbarie"(http://webdoc.sub.gwdg.de/diss/2008/gabler/gabler.pdf)(PDF).Retrieved20091223.
2.Harari,Josue(1980).TextualStrategies.UniversityPaperbacks.pp.434.ISBN0416737501.
3.Macksey,Richard(1997)ForewordtoGenetteParatexts,p.xiii,note3
4.Genette,,G(1980)."4".Mode.NarrativeDiscourse.NewYork:CornellUniversityPress.pp.161211.ISBN978
0801492594.
5.culturecommunication.gouv.fr(http://www.culturecommunication.gouv.fr/Ministere/Servicesrattachesalaministre/S
ectiondesdistinctionshonorifiques/ArretesdeNominationsdanslordredesArtsetdesLettres/Nominationdansl
ordredesArtsetdesLettresjanvier2016)
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