Theryn Fleming's Reviews > Narratology: Introduction to the Theory of Narrative

In Narratology, Mieke Bal argues that a narrative text can be divided into three layers: the fabula (elements, or series of events), the story (aspects, e.g. ordering, point of view), and the text (words). At each level there is an agent: fabula (actor, or agent who performs actions), story (focalizer, or subject of focalization), and text (narrator, or linguistic subject). The first two chapters (fabula, story) were clearly presented and fairly straightforward, the third chapter (text) a little less so. Although this chapter was the most theoretically dense IMO, it was also the shortest and felt somewhat rushed in comparison.