Telling Stories: A Theoretical Anlysis of Narrative Fiction

New Accents

by Steven Cohan, Linda M. Shires

Telling Stories overturns traditional definitions of narrative by arguing that any story, whether a Bette Davis film, a jeans ad, a Jane Austen novel or a 'Cathy' comic, must be related to larger cultural networks. The authors show how meanings and subjectivity do not exist in isolation, but are manufactured by the narratives our culture reads and watches every day. They call for a critical practice that, through the fracturing of texts, can alter the grounds of knowledge and interpretation. This timely study will interest critics of narrative and culture, as well as students wanting to extend post-Saussurean theories to poopular and canonical cultures, and to the dynamics of story-telling itself.

Genres: Criticism, Writing, Nonfiction, Literary Criticism

197 pages, Paperback

First published November 18, 1988

About the author

Steven Cohan is Dean’s Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English at Syracuse University.

Reviews

[Neda]

Just an amazing book, if you're into linguistic readings of fiction! With great examples and explanation!