What is a narrative?

In The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative, Abbot makes one think hard when trying to define a narrative. It can be said that a narrative is “an art and that art thrives on narrative. (Abbott 1)” A narrative is also something that as humans we like to take a part in. Abbot also says that, a “narrative is the principal way in which our species organizes its understanding of time.” And when there is time, there is also space. To put it simply it is “the representation of an event or a series of events. (Abbott 13)” It portrays a sequence of events stretched out throughout the time frame in which it happened. A narrative is not as simple as a description; it has to “tell” something. Abbot uses the example of someone saying, “My dog has fleas.” It is clearly not a narrative because it is a mere description. “My dog was bitten by a flea” is a narrative because it tells of an event that occurred (Abbott 13). With a narrative one is also able to see that they “create the order of time.” A narrative is able to “carve out a piece of time”, spanning from when the even happened and when it ended. According to Paul Ricoeur, “Time becomes human time, to the extent that it is organized after the manner of a narrative; narrative, in turn, is meaningful to the extent that it portrays the features of temporal existence.” A narrative can be told through a picture, a film, sound, music, word of mouth, television, print and other mediums.

Works Cited

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