This course of lectures aims to enhance the understanding of major aspects of narrative fiction. It will deal with the significance of titles and intertextual relations, matters of perspectivization (types of narration and focalization), the ethos of narrators, the building blocks of narrative discourse (report, description, comment and speech), the constitution of characters, the construction of plot, the creation of mystery and suspense, the functionalization of time and space, the introduction and development of themes, and the use of self-reflexivity. The various choices and techniques available to writers will be illustrated with excerpts from classics of British fiction.
Recommended reading:
Peter Wenzel, Hg. Einführung in die Erzähltextanalyse: Kategorien, Modelle, Probleme. WVT, 2004.
Christoph Bode. Der Roman: Eine Einführung. Francke, 2005.
John Mullan. How Novels Work. Oxford UP, 2008.
The texts used in the course will be made available through Moodle.
Assessment/requirements: test in the final week of term
- Kursleiter/in: Uwe Klawitter