Wednesday, May 06, 2020

Iterative Discourse is the Key to a Great Narrative: Danièle Chatelain's Perceiving and Telling: A Study of Iterative Discourse #sdsupress


by David Ornelas
#repost/adaptation: Yarely Alejandre May 2012

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Ever wonder what the trick is to writing a captivating narrative? The answer is repetition. 

In her book, Perceiving and Telling: A Study of Iterative Discourse, Danièle Chatelain explores the dynamic of space and time within the art of iterative discourse. In terms of story versus narrative, the separation of space and time is, in a sense, built into the very terms in which that distinction is traditionally formulated. In Gerald Prince's, A Dictionary of Narratology, "story" is the content of the narrative; it is a succession of events "with an emphasis on chronology" (91). In her study, Chatelain seeks to show how these dimensions exist on a "spacetime continuum." The book is provided with a glossary of terms.

Chatelain develops the concept of repetition helping it grow from a boring and flat concept to one that houses the fluidity of perception. Chatelain says, "Perceiving, therefore, should be considered as a central element in the functioning of any narrative" (94). The tricky concepts that go into an excellent narrative are thoroughly dissected as she also studies the division between heterodiegetic and homodiegetic narratives. Writing a narrative can sometimes feel like an overwhelming task, but with Chatelain's insight on the matter (and of course with her glossary on hand) the job will be less daunting and instead become an exciting challenge.

More pages from Chatelain's monograph:





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