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The Novel: An Introduction


The Novel: An Introduction is a general introduction to narratology, written by Christoph Bode, Full Professor and Chair of Modern English Literature in the Department of English and American Studies at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. The first edition of Der Roman was published 2005 at A. Francke Verlag (UTB, Tübingen and Basel) in German; in 2011, the second revised and extended German edition followed, as well as the English translation.

A preface precedes the nine thematic chapters; references and an extensive and commented bibliography conclude the book.

The preface encourages a departure from the purely formal and narrow text analysis by repeatedly asking the question "What's the difference ?": What kind of effect would have resulted, if the narrator had described certain people, situations or circumstances in a different way? And why did he or she choose not to do this? Taking this approach, the analysis proceeds from the How to the What—and not vice versa. Acknowledgements conclude the preface.

Here, each thematic chapter is described in a short summary without quoting the various literature examples in the text of The Novel: An Introduction.

The chapter introduces the topic. It discusses the "beginning" and the "meaning" of a novel, the socio-cultural conventions/rules and the methodology of linking the individual events, which may be used in this narrative form, as well as the interactions of these elements. As a special case the autobiographical novel (it's me, who tells) is treated. Finally, a brief discourse is made on capturing the attention of the novel reader: the very first sentences of the story.

Here, the historical development of the modern European novel is traced. The terms "fact" and "fiction" are explained, and told fiction, illusion and narrated realism be delineated. The diversity of types of novels is outlined.

The introduction to novel analysis is given. A summary table illustrates the thematic terms, which are used by various known narratologists (Gérard Genette, Seymour Chatman, Mieke Bal, Shlomith Rimmon-Kenan, Gerald Prince, and Franz Karl Stanzel).


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