Define Narrative

Narrative is a human discourse which is presentable. It can be also being seen as an artwork. People use it every day and almost every second. When people talk, tell a story or a folk tale, perform a play, write a book, watch a movie, take a picture, or paint, they are conveying a narrative. They are having a discourse.  No matter how young the person is, as long as he or she can describe a situation; tell a story, he or she is telling a narrative.  In Gerald Prince’s second edition of his Dictionary (2003), he states “that narrative is essentially a mode of verbal presentation and involves the linguistic recounting or telling of events.” (The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative, 15) Narrative is thereby vital for our history and cultural heritage.

Many people think that story-telling is equal to narrative. They are similar, but are still two different things. “Narrative is the representation of events, consisting of story and narrative discourse; story is an event or sequence of event (the action); and narrative discourse (conveyed) is those events as represented.” (The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative, 19) Also, story-telling has its own components: the event and the entities (sometimes called as “existents”) involved in the event. Everyone can tell a story and have some discourse with another. Narrative is everywhere.

Citation (MLA)

Abbott, H. Porter. The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative: Second edition. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Print.