The Classical Plot and the Invention of Western Narrative

by N.J. Lowe

This is the story of how Western literature first developed its distinctive taste for the kind of tight, economical plotting still employed in modern fiction and cinema. The book shows how this taste was formed in Greco-Roman antiquity out of a series of revolutions in storytelling, centered on Homer, early tragedy, Hellenistic comedy, and the Greek love-novels of the early centuries AD. Along the way, it draws on cognitive science and current literary theory to offer a resilient yet accessible new theory of what "plot" is and how it works.

Genres: Literature, History, Nonfiction

308 pages, Hardcover

First published April 30, 1996

Reviews

[Sylvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best i have read so far related to this endless discussion between plot, fable, histoire. Sorry, Genette. Sometimes it is good that theorists think more about the common flesh and blood reader as Lowe does.