The Cambridge Companion to Narrative

The Cambridge Companion to Narrative provides a unique and valuable overview of current approaches to narrative study. An international team of experts explores ideas of storytelling and methods of narrative analysis as they have emerged across diverse traditions of inquiry and in connection with a variety of media, from film and television, to storytelling in the 'real-life' contexts of face-to-face interaction, to literary fiction. Each chapter presents a survey of scholarly approaches to topics such as character, dialogue, genre or language, shows how those approaches can be brought to bear on a relatively well-known illustrative example, and indicates directions for further research. Featuring a chapter reviewing definitions of narrative, a glossary of key terms and a comprehensive index, this is an essential resource for both students and scholars in many fields, including language and literature, composition and rhetoric, creative writing, jurisprudence, communication and media studies, and the social sciences.
The Cambridge Companion to Narrative provides a unique and valuable overview of current approaches to narrative study.
David Herman is Professor of English at Ohio State University.
"Herman's volume also fulfils its promise to serve as a 'point of entrance into a complex field ... as well as a basis for further research' and also 'a helpful tool for more advanced scholars needing ... a[n] up-to-date treatment of foundational terms, concepts and approaches.'"
-Andrea Macrae, University of Nottingham, UK
"Offering an excellent introduction to the elements of storytelling and methods of narrative analysis, this well-written, accessible addition to the "Cambridge Companions to Literature" series provides an excellent array of viewpoints from international experts on the basic elements and current criticism in narrative studies...Highly recommended."
--C. R. Brown, Mercyhurst College, Choice