The papers collected in this volume study the function and meaning of narrative texts from a variety of perspectives. The word text is used here in the broadest sense of the term: it denotes literary books, but also oral tales, speeches, newspaper articles and comics. One of the purposes of this volume is to discover what these different texts have in common. The texts are approached from four main perspectives: New Philology, Linguistics, Iconography and Reception studies. Contributors come from diverse disciplines, such as Classical Studies, Medieval Studies, English literature, Philosophy, Religious Studies, Cultural Studies, Art History, Linguistics, and Communication and Information Studies, all united in a common purpose to understand the workings of narrative texts.