Narrative in Fiction and Film: An Introduction

'This is a valuable book, not least because of its inter-disciplinary nature; but it will be considered somewhat specialist by most students of film. Its focus on narrative and what this can mean in the broadest sense make it possible to see it as a useful tool within the expanding area of creative writing as an undergraduate discipline, particularly when students are asked to theorise their own narrative strategies or to experiment with different forms of narrative.' THES May 2000Narrative in Fiction and Film gives a clear presentation of key concepts of narrative theory such as author, narrator, and reader. The main focus of the book is on narrative fiction (short stories and novels), yet the film aspect is brought into each chapter. The first part of the book introduces the key concepts of narrative theory and the second part of the book illustrates and tests the theories by analysing five texts: the parable of the sower in St. Mark's Gospel, Franz Kafka's The Trial, James Joyce's The Dead, Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, and Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse, and the film version of these texts.