Research Log 9: 'Theory of Narrative'

By Nick Lacey

"Annette Kuhn has summarised the conventions of 'classical' narrative mode of the twentieth century as:
"1. Linearity of cause-and-effect within an overall trajectory of resolution.
"2. A high degree of narrative closure.
"3. A fictional world governed by spatial and temporal verisimilitude.
"4. Centrality of the narrative agency of psychologically rounded characters."

"[narrative needs] at least two connected events."

"narrative is a way of organising spatial and temporal data into a cause-and-effect chain of events with a beginning, middle and end."