Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


osu1055173633.pdf (445.52 KB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Who speaks, who listens, who acts: a new model for understanding narrative

DelConte, Matthew T
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1055173633

Abstract Details

2003, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, English.
Traditionally we have examined narrative structures primarily in terms of voice (who is speaking). Although a number of critics have revised how we think of voice, for example by making the distinction between who speaks (voice) and who perceives (focalization), our understanding of narrative remains incomplete if we focus so exclusively on this one variable. For instance, second-person narration, which is defined not by who is speaking but by who is listening (the narratee), does not adequately fit into a model of narration that centers around voice or narrator. To account for different narrative structures more adequately, I propose a new model of narration that examines three variables: narrator, narratee, and protagonist. The model is made up of five categories based on the possible ways these three variables can relate to one another: complete coincident narration, non-coincident narration, and three forms of partial coincident narration. My dissertation introduces, defines, and explores each of these categories by analyzing specific texts that exemplify these narrative structures. These analyses demonstrate my larger argument, that the type and level of reader engagement with a text is determined more so by the relationships among these three variables than simply by the type of narrator. In other words, my model offers us a new understanding of the rhetorical dynamics of narrative discourse, a fresh account of both narration itself and its consequences for reader respons
James Phelan (Advisor)
228 p.
Literature, American
Narrative Theory; Narratology; Second-Person Narration; American Literature

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • DelConte, M. T. (2003). Who speaks, who listens, who acts: a new model for understanding narrative [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1055173633

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • DelConte, Matthew. Who speaks, who listens, who acts: a new model for understanding narrative. 2003. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1055173633.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • DelConte, Matthew. "Who speaks, who listens, who acts: a new model for understanding narrative." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2003. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1055173633

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1055173633
8,234
© 2003, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.