What is Narrative?

Abbott simply defines a narrative as the telling or representation of an event or series of events. Abbott explains a narrative goes beyond a description and instead contains an action. Abbott criticizes some of his peers for limiting the definition of a narrative. Although some of his peers require multiple events, or even more, multiple linked events, to define a representation of events as a narrative, Abbott finds this restrictive and instead finds a single event may represent the building blocks of complex narratives. Abbott accepts the broad definition of narrative, not requiring a defined narrator, in an effort to properly analyze the difference between narrative discourse and story. Abbott continues be describing a narrative an object we can decode in our mind without following any chronological order. A story, however, he describes as needing to follow a set time pattern. Ultimately, Abbott defines the major difference between story and narrative as a story is the event and the narrative is the representation of events (Abbott, 2008).

Barthes explains narratives are commonplace and ever-present. From stained glass windows, to local news, Barthes explains narratives can be found across spoken word to pictures to gestures to mixtures of all three (237). Barthes continues to describe a narrative as a “hierarchy of levels or strata.” In turn, understanding a narrative goes beyond understanding the chronology of the story, but includes recognizing the different layers. Barthes breaks the idea that a narrative is just a single axis, and instead says that an implicit characteristic of a narrative is an additional axis made up of the multiple strata (243). In turn, the idea of a narrative takes depth and goes beyond a the simplicity of telling a story, instead it requires the analysis of each individual layer and the ability to piece together the information from each layer and each moment in time (Barthes, 1975).

Between Abbott’s and Barthes’ definitions of “narrative” there are commonalities. Together the two addresses that narrative exist all around, even beyond written forms and more importantly in the smallest form of the telling of a single event or action. Additionally, both address the importance of analyzing the chronology and the layers of a narrative.

Abbott, H. P. (2008). The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Barthes, R., & Duisit, L. (Winter, 1975). An Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narrative. New Literary History.