Abstract

abstract:

This review essay approaches the story-discourse dichotomy through the theory of unconventional narratives. Brian Richardson's Unnatural Narratives, Kent Puckett's Narrative Theory and Guido Mazzoni's Theory of the Novel discuss how the conventional narrative structure beginning-introduction-resolution, and the traditional narrator, are no longer valid in contemporary fiction. Richardson claims that contemporary fiction transgresses the mimetic conventions that, traditionally, have characterized narratives. Puckett revises the main theories in narratology and the way in which they have approached the story-discourse relationship. Finally, Mazzoni's interest lies in the evolution of the novel and its legitimacy as a genre. But the three of them come to the same conclusion: there are infinite ways to tell a story.

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