A Structuralist-generative Model of Literary Narrative: The Theory and Practice of Analyzing Fiction Including an Essay by Stephan-Alexander Ditze

This study fills three of the most serious gaps in narrative theory and analysis of fiction. Firstly, it provides the long overdue, first genuinely comprehensive model of literary narrative ( fiction ). Its structuralist-generative nature allows to integrate the findings of most major theorists of the twentieth century. The model is explained in detail and illustrated by a fold-out chart. Secondly, in contrast to structuralist narrative theory, the model is not a mere inventory of the various units of which a work of fiction consists. Rather, it elucidates the dynamic interplay of the literary narrative’s various content components and discourse aspects which convey its thematic idea. Thirdly, the feasibility of the model is extensively demonstrated by the (selective) analysis of several short stories, a novella and a novel. - In the appendix, a student paper shows the model’s heuristic- didactic power at the level of advanced literary studies.