Narratology: Propp, Genette, and Aristotle on Storytelling

Narratology: Propp, Genette, and Aristotle on Storytelling

We all hear, watch, or read stories. Movies, books, fairy tales… They don’t just tell us what happens, but also how it is told. Narratology is the study of this how part. Just as Trauma Theory asks how the unspeakable finds voice in literature, narratology turns our attention to the how of storytelling itself. What structures hold a story together? Who speaks, when, and why? From Homeric epics to postmodern fiction, narratology examines the bones of narrative: its time, voice, perspective, and order.

Main Questions in Narratology:

• Who is telling the story? Is it a character or an outside narrator?
• When is the story told? After the events, or while they happen?
• What order is it in? From beginning to end, or does it jump in time?
• Whose eyes do we see through? Which character’s thoughts or feelings do we follow?

I want to give a simple example:

Imagine watching a movie. First, a child is talking. Then we go back in time to see what happened when they were younger.

That’s called a flashback.

Or in a book, a character tells the story but forgets things or tells them in a strange way. That’s an unreliable narrator.

What is Narratology? Understanding Stories and Plots

Narratology is the study of how stories are built and structured. It started as a part of structuralism, a theory that looks at the basic structures in culture and language, but it has grown into its own field. Narratology borrows some ideas and terms from language studies, which helps it explain stories better. At its core, narratology is all about stories. But it does not focus on understanding just one story or book. Instead, it looks at what a “story” really is, as an idea and a cultural practice.

One important idea in narratology is the difference between “story” and “plot.” The “story” means the actual events that happen, in the order they really happened. It starts at the beginning and moves forward without skipping anything.

The “plot” is different — it’s how those events are arranged and told in a narrative. Sometimes the plot doesn’t start at the beginning; it might start in the middle, then jump back to earlier events in a flashback. It can also include flash-forwards, which give hints about what will happen later. So, the plot is a way of presenting the story, not the story itself. Understanding this difference helps us see how stories are created and why they are told in certain ways. Narratology teaches us that stories are not just about what happens, but also about how those events are shared with us.

Different Terms for Story and Plot in Narratology

In narratology, the difference between 'story' and 'plot' is crucial. But the story of narratology itself is a bit messy because different groups like to use their own special terms for these ideas. For instance, David Lodge, a well-known scholar, prefers to use the Russian Formalist terms: fabula instead of 'story' and sjuzhet (pronounced "soojay") instead of 'plot'. This shows how the same concepts can have different names.

In North America, many narratology writers use the word 'story' as usual, but instead of 'plot', they often say discourse. This is smart because the 'plot' is not just about the order of events; it also includes things like style, viewpoint, and pace — basically, how the story is told or “packaged.” Another important figure, Gerard Genette, uses yet another set of terms: histoire (similar to 'story' or 'fabula') and récit (which means 'plot' or 'sjuzhet'). Therefore, while the ideas are similar, narratologists don’t always agree on the words. This variety in terminology shows how rich and complex the study of stories really is.

Aristotle’s Ideas About Stories: Characters and Actions

Aristotle, in his book Poetics, says that the most important parts of a story are character and action. He thinks we understand a character by what they do — their actions show who they really are.

He also talks about three important things in a story’s plot:

1.    Hamartia: This refers to a mistake or fault. In tragic stories, it is often a big flaw in the main character that causes problems or disaster.

2.  Anagnorisis: This is the moment when the main character realizes something important. It is like a “recognition” or a “big discovery” about themselves or the situation.

3.  Peripeteia: This means a sudden change or reversal in the story. Things turn around quickly, and the character’s fate changes a lot.

 

Vladimir Propp and the Shapes of Stories

Vladimir Propp was a Russian critic who studied Russian folk tales. He wanted to find common patterns and parts that appear again and again in these stories. In 1928, he wrote a book called The Morphology of the Folktale. The word “morphology” means the study of shapes or forms, so his book was about the structure of stories, not their history or meaning in society.

Propp found seven main roles or “spheres of action” in many folk tales:

1.     The Villain: The bad character who causes trouble or harm.

2.     The Donor: The person who gives the hero a special object or help needed to beat the villain.

3.     The Helper: Someone who helps the hero with their strength or cleverness.

4.     The Princess and Her Father: The princess is someone the hero wants to save or marry. Sometimes she is a victim.

5.  The Dispatcher: The person who sends the hero on the quest after the villain causes a problem.

6.     The Hero: The main character who goes on the journey or solves the problem.

7.     The False Hero: A character who pretends to be the hero and tries to take credit for the hero’s success.

Even though Propp studied Russian stories, he believed these roles are common in stories from all cultures and times. 

 

Gerard Genette and How Stories Are Told

Gerard Genette is a famous thinker in the field of narratology, especially structural narratology. He focused on how stories are told, not just what happens in the story. He explained five important parts of narration:

1. Narrative Mode

This is about how the story is shown or told:

• Mimesis means the story is shown by acting it out or "showing" things slowly, like in a play or movie.
• Diegesis means the story is told by a narrator who "tells" quickly, summarizing events.

2. Narrative Focalisation (Viewpoint)

This means from whose eyes we see the story:

• External focalisation means we only see what characters say and do, from outside their minds.
• Internal focalisation means we see what characters think and feel inside.
• Sometimes, the narrator can know everything about all characters (called zero focalisation).

3. Voice (Who Tells the Story)

Who is the narrator and where do they stand?

• Intra-diegetic narrators are inside the story.
• Extra-diegetic narrators are outside the story.
• If the narrator is a character in the story, they are called homo-diegetic.
• If the narrator is not a character, they are called hetero-diegetic.

4. Order

Stories are not always told in the order they happen. Sometimes, they jump back in time (flashbacks or analepsis) or forward (flashforwards or prolepsis).

5. Narrative Speed

This is about how fast or slow the story is told:

·         Pause: The story stops, and the narrator describes something in detail.

·         Scene: The story time and narration time match, like in a dialogue.

·         Summary: The story is told faster than it happened, in a shorter form.

·         Ellipsis: Some parts of the story are skipped entirely.

Genette’s ideas help us understand how authors make choices about telling stories. Why do they slow down, speed up, or skip parts? What effect do these choices have on us as readers?

Aristotle talked mostly about themes, Propp focused on plot and characters, and Genette shows us the “how” of storytelling — the narration itself. Together with other thinkers, they help us understand stories fully.

 What Do Narratologists Do?

1.     They study individual stories to find the common patterns that appear in all stories.

2.     Instead of focusing only on what the story is about (the content), they focus on how the story is told — the narrator and the act of telling.

3.     They take simple categories found in short stories and develop them to explain more complex, longer stories like novels.

4.     They focus more on actions and structure in the story rather than just characters and their motives.

5.     They enjoy finding connections between different stories, rather than only admiring a few unique or famous works.