On narrative

[lobelia321]

From a book on Narrative by H. Porter Abbott:

... the term diegesis (which Plato originally used to refer to stories that were told, not acted) has been used to refer to the world of the story -- that "reality" in which the events are presumed to take place. Thus, if a character narrates who also plays a role in the diegesis, it is called homodiegetic narration. If a voice situated outside the action narrates, it is called heterodiegetic narration. Gérard Genette argued ... that the distinction between homodiegetic and heterodiegetic narrators is more adequate than that between first- and third-person narrators for specifying whether a narrator is inside or outside of the world of the story.

Interesting. Gets me out of the first-person or third-person pov conundrum. Am trying to think of slashy examples.

I guess Cordelia's FOTA is an example of first-person homodiegetic narration. Brenda's Fun & Games is an example of third-person homodiegetic narration.

Heterodiegesis seems to be rarer in slash. I guess we all love getting emotionally involved too much. Abbot Porter cites Hemingway but I'm still trying to think of a Hemingway-esque slash fic. I suppose I was trying to be heterodiegetic in "When We Are Human" but then the second-person narrator (moth, spider) most definitely is part of the story so would be homodiegetic. I suppose some of Demelza's and Gabby Hope's recent little Dom tales are heterodiegetic because they subsist almost entirely on dialogue.

It is more complex than I thought at first. This is why it is interesting.

Comments

Re:

[vasiliki.livejournal.com]

Rimmon-Kenan is a *woman*? She's mostly quoting from Genette. I found the stuff pretty clear, I must say.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Yes, she's a woman! 'Shlomith', as in 'Shulamith'. Israeli name.

I discovered this only last year myself. Heh.

I have yet to read Genette. *hangs head in shame*