Narrative
The Development of Narrative
Narrative includes the story being told (content) and conditions of its telling (structure/context). (Abbe Don) 1990On the relationship between narrative and the database Abbe Don states, a narrative approach provides a framework that allows the structure and content of the knowledge base to evolve. The components of multimedia knowledge bases can be viewed as events which are experienced in a dynamic and temporal sequence rather than objects in space. 1990
The Five Types of Narrativity As Outlined by Marie-Laure Ryan 2004
A) Diegetic/Mimetic: A diegetic narration is the verbal story-telling aspect of a narrator. Diegetic narration presupposes language, oral and written and is therefore the typical mode of the novel, conversational, storytelling, and news reports.
B) Autonomous: The text transmits a story that is new to the receiver. The logical armature of the story must be retrievable from the text.
C) Receptive/Participatory: The recipient plays no active role in the events presented by the narrative: he receives the account of a narrative action.
D) Determinate/Inter determinate: The text specifies a sufficient number of points on the narrative trajectory to project a reasonable definite script.
E) Literal/Metaphorical: The degree of metaphoricity of a narrative depends on how many features are mentioned and how important they are to the definition.
The Four Dimensions of Narrativity as outlined by Marie-Laure Ryan 2006
A) Spatial: Narrative must be about a world populated by individuated existents.
B) Temporal: The world must be situated in time and undergo significant transformations.
C) Mental: Participants in the events must be intelligent agents who have a mental life.
D) Formal/Pragmatic: Sequence of events must form a unified causal chain and lead to closure. Occurrence of at least some of the events must be asserted as fact for the story world.
Katherine Hayles summarizes the modern relationship between narrative and the database as, narratives require databases in the computationally intensive culture of the new millennium to enhance its cultural authority. 2012
Commentary
While the genre of digital literature has seen multiple innovation over the years, the basic form of narrative has remained much the same. The definition of narrative that Abbe Don outlined in 1990 is still applicable in the modern era. The story and the structure remain, but the medium has transitioned from print to a digital realm. The five types of narrativity outlined above are relevant to authors of digital literature. If an author is attempting to use the traditional form of diegetic narration in electronic media, the format would have to reflect the verbal aspect through video or audio tools. Digital narratives provide new meaning to the term participatory. Unseen in print literature are the mechanics available for user interaction with technological tools. Narrative will continue to evolve as authors take advantage of the tools and capabilities that digital literature offers.
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