Defining Narrative

The term "narrative" is used to define a structure of stories in which an event takes place and the writer describe it. Obviously the term comes from the root "narrate", as narratives must involve the narration of at least one event. Some, however, feel that this doesn't go far enough, and that there must be at least two events, and even that these events must be related. Abbott contests this notion with the idea that to place too many requirements would hinder and ultimately hurt general structure of narratives by limiting it too much[1]. There then exists the problem of lengthy narratives. Sometimes a narrative becomes too long, and problem arises if it still falls into the narrative category, or if the other elements of the piece cause it to no longer be a narrative. Abbott addresses the issue by explaining that even if it has some non-narrative material, it should still be considered acceptable if it has narrative characteristics as well, using the excuse that no one's come up with a decent way of explaining when and why it stops being a narrative after a certain length[2].

Narratives exist in every genre of art, and have for centuries[3]. Therefore, while a more eloquent and specific definition than "it's when someone describes an event" would be nice, it would be almost impossible to be any more specific without contradicting at least one well established narrative. Narratives occur every day, we use them often without realizing we're doing so. So really the safest and most accurate way to assign any definition to "narrative" is the shortest, most general definition, allowing for the various and numerous forms of narratives.

[1] Abbott, H. Porter. The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative. Cambridge: University Press, 2008 [Page 13]

[2] Abbott, H. Porter. The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative. Cambridge: University Press, 2008 [Page 14]

[3] Barthes, Roland. A Barthes Reader: An Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narratives. United States of America: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data, 1995. Book. [Page 251]