ABSTRACTS
Valerij I. Tiupa (Moscow)
France and Russia in Narratological Research
There are long-standing and deep relations with mutual interests and reciprocal influences between French and Russian narratology. The importance for the Russian humanities of narratological works by Roland Barthes, Tzvetan Todorov, Gérard Genette and, later, Paul Ricœur and contemporary researchers in the human sciences in Russia is well-known. In turn, studies by the Russian formalists, succeeded by Mixail Baxtin, Juri Lotman and Boris Uspenskij, have become highly significant for French narratologists. This article takes a look at the historical differences between narratology and poetics in France and Russia. It is observed that in Russia the transnational convergence between narratological interests can be seen in the common ground shared by Russian analytical poetics and French discourse analysis. The author argues in favor of collaborative research for the construction of a historical narratology based on the principles of the historical poetics first outlined by Aleksandr Veselovskij.
Keywords: historical narratology, poetics, Baxtin, Foucault, Lotman, Ricœur, Uspenskij, Veselovskij
Veronika Zousseva-Özkan (Moscow)
Narratology, Historical Poetics and Historical Narratology
This paper discusses the current state of narratology and its prospects and contains arguments in support of historical (or diachronic) narratology. It also suggests that the experience of Russian historical poetics may be useful to develop its methodology. The proposed method is tested using the case of metanarration. It is demonstrated that authorial presence in the inner world of the literary work and metanarrative intrusions appear in the earliest known novels, but as natural and not “artificial” phenomena, that is to say, played with deliberately in the name of some artistic objective. It is only when the urge to play arises and the relation between art and reality is perceived as problematic and controversial that metanarration is transformed into metafiction. Consequently, the meaning and functioning of narrative phenomena are not the same at different epochs; they are determined by major narrative strategies and in turn determine them.
Keywords: historical poetics, historical (diachronic) narratology, metanarration, authorial intrusions, narrative strategies
John PIER (Tours and Paris)
Narrative Theory and Discourse Analysis
One important development in French narratology since the decline of structuralism as it was practiced in the 1960s and 70s can be found in French discourse analysis. Emphasizing discourse in social interaction over structure, discourse analysis regards narrative as one type of discourse among others. Three dimensions of discourse that relate to narrative are singled out: the text linguistic categories of text and discourse, the reformulation of langue and parole in the light of the theory of enunciation and the relations between text and context. The role in narrative analysis of enunciation (Benveniste), speech genres (Baxtin) and the scene of enunciation (Maingueneau) are examined.
Keywords: discourse, text linguistics, speech genres, enunciation
Liudmila V. Comuzzi (Balashov)
Rhythm of Composition and Narrative Theory of Translation: Two Possibilities for a Russian-French Dialogue on Narrative
Soviet and French structuralism had an opportunity to establish a dialogue in the 1960s, when Julia Kristeva’s group attended the seminars of the Moscow-Tartu semiotic school and translations of Lotman and his colleagues’ works were published in the journal Tel Quel. Collaboration did not last long, however, due to political and ideological contradictions between the two schools. The first Franco-Russian seminar on narratological transfer has every chance to revive that dialogue. This article offers two possible vectors to boost a transfer of ideas. The first could depart from the traditional poetics of composition to adopt rhythm viewed as a universal law of narrative discourse. A second perspective is to turn toward the narrative theory of translation, an offshoot of postclassical narratology.
Keywords: narrative rhythm, narrative theory of translation, point of view, focalization
Larissa E. Mouravieva (Saint Petersburg)
The Transfer of Narratological Concepts: The Russian Adaptation of mise en abyme
Mise en abyme, one of the well-known devices in classical and postclassical narratology, has remained largely unexplored by Russian literary theory. The phenomenon designated by this term was long covered by the principle of text within the text studied by the semioticians of the Moscow-Tartu School. Nevertheless, a growing interest in mise en abyme by Russian literary criticism can be observed in recent years. However, the transfer of this notion has shown a shift of definitions in the new context. This article examines the passage of the concept of mise en abyme from one scientific context to another and offers a few thoughts on the problem of intercultural transfer of narratological terminology.
Keywords: transfer, mise en abyme, text within the text
Ekaterina Yu. Sokrouta (Moscow)
Narratological Cartography
This article deals with the mapping out of narrative theories within the context of international narratological research. According to some classifications, there are more than twenty-five varieties of narratology in international mainstream research. Such diversity makes the common understanding of concepts and terminology difficult to achieve and poses difficulties with the translation of texts employing narratological terms from one language to another. Taking as examples the concepts of event and character in Russian and other languages, the author demonstrates how divergences of terminology can lead to misunderstandings in scientific debate. In order to remedy these difficulties, she thus puts forth the idea of an online international comparative dictionary of narratological terms and concepts employed in Russian, French, German and Anglo-American narratologies.
Keywords: comparative narratology, multilingual narratological dictionary, event, character