Literary and Cultural Studies, Theory and the (New) Media – serie

Since the late 1990s unreliable narration has garnered popularity in narrative theory and has sparked a lively debate among scholars. This book traces the theoretical discussions surrounding narrative unreliability and examines the relationship of unreliable narration to antimimetic techniques of portraying self-deception. Standing on the border between classical and postclassical narratology, the study analyses Kazuo Ishiguro’s and Max Frisch’s innovative narrative strategies, offering new perspectives on their œuvre and on unreliable narration as a narratological concept. A comparison of the methods Ishiguro and Frisch employ to explore the psychology of their narrators reveals a fascinating parallel in their development as novelists.

The temporal structure of Wuthering Heights has long been regarded as opaque or even flawed. This is explained by the fact that the years 1778, 1801 and 1802 do not entirely cohere with the numerous relative time references in the novel if, as scholarship contends, the years 1801 and 1802 refer to Ellen Dean’s narration of the story. By means of mathematically precise calculations and a grammatical analysis of the text, this critical new approach argues that the time frame of Wuthering Heights is sound if the years 1801 and 1802 date the writing of Mr. Lockwood’s diary. The crucial differentiation between the recording of Mr. Lockwood’s diary and the narration of Ellen Dean’s story leads to a deeper understanding of the intentions of the two narrators and the behaviour of the protagonists.

This volume is co-edited by the director of the Freiburg graduate school "Factual and Fictional Narration" (GRK 1767, Freiburg/Germany) and the director of the Aarhus Centre for Fictionality Studies (University of Aarhus, DK). The collection of essays re-examines the much discussed fact―fiction distinction in light of the current burgeoning of research on fictionality. It provides a forum for ongoing work on fictionality from France, Germany and Denmark and Sweden. By placing discussions of the notion of fictionality in one volume, the editors hope to initiate exchange between the different traditions represented in the essays und to help the task of translating the available concepts and terminologies so they can travel between different models and theoretical frameworks.

This study provides a new model for the construction of mentalities and intermental thought of characters in playscripts. It introduces a model that facilitates the analysis of the construction of consciousness, instances of collective thought, and the dynamics of group formation in late-Victorian drama. It can be placed within the framework of cognitive studies because cognitive studies are interested in examining the mental state and the relationship between minds involved in cognitive interaction in narratives. For a long time narrative studies have neglected drama as a genre and, even after the long overdue acceptance of plays in the family of narratives, most critics were eager to focus on performance rather than on playscripts. This book introduces a model through which the analysis of playscripts will be rewarding and worthwhile.

The 21st-century story economy is grounded on the premise that everyone – from individual social media users to political parties and multinational corporations – needs to become storytellers. At the same time, we witness the erosion of borders between fact, fiction, truth and lies within the public sphere. This book by literary researchers helps different audiences understand and analyse the rhetorical uses and potential dangers of narratives and fictionality. The contributors deal with various contemporary storytelling environments, ranging from social and news media to literary autofiction, and from documentary narration to sexual fantasy. Narratives and fictionality are an asset in today’s communication environments, but awareness of their rhetorical and ethical pitfalls will make us better readers.

The book explores a newly compiled corpus of American Gulf War captivity narratives, their claim to truth and their construction of identity and ideology, as well as concepts of heroism and anti-heroism. Moreover, it probes the texts’ complex authorship, uncovers their role in promoting cultural stereotypes and in propagating violence. Hence, this study is deeply involved with uncovering narrative strategies of othering and with the construction of orientalist alterities. The findings are then connected to broader social debates in the USA. Unpacking themes of alterity, heroism, and violence, the research underscores the Gulf War captivity narratives’ role in justifying aggression and in shaping U.S. American national identity, underscoring the need for continued scrutiny.