Looking for the Nature of Narrativity. Review of Igl, N., & Zeman, S. (Eds.). (2016). Perspectives on Narrativity and Narrative Perspecti­vization. Amsterdam; Philadelphia: John Benjamins. 185 p.

Abstract

This paper provides a critical survey of the works published in Perspectives on Narrativity and Narrative Perspectivization, a volume of Linguistic Approaches to Literature (LAL) series written by a team of German scholars. The book under review presents an original version of cognitive narratology based on the category of perspective. With reference to this concept, the authors of the volume in question seek to develop a new interpretation of the basic category of narratology, that of narrativity. The reviewer primarily focuses on the epistemological basis of the conception developed in the book which should be considered in the context of the ongoing discussion about ‘natural’ and ‘unnatural’ narratology initiated by Monika Fludernik, Brian Richardson, and Jan Alber. The review emphasises the fact that the works collected in the volume reviewed, in spite of seeking to support the conceptual background of ‘natural’ narratology that they explicitly share, clearly demonstrate the shortcomings and contradictions inherent in the ‘naturalist’ perspective on the category of narrativity.

Keywords

• теория литературы
• нарратология
• нарративность
• повествование
• когнитивная лингвистика
• прагматика.