Narrative structure
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Narrative structure is generally described as the structural framework that underlies the order and manner in which a narrative is presented to a reader, listener, or viewer.
Theorists describing a text's narrative structure might refer to structural elements such as an introduction, in which the story's founding characters and circumstances are described; a chorus, which uses the voice of an onlooker to describe events or indicate the proper emotional response to what has just happened; or a coda, which falls at the end of a narrative and makes concluding remarks. First described by such ancient Greek philosophers as Aristotle and Plato, the notion of narrative structure saw renewed popularity as a critical concept in the mid- to late-twentieth century, when structuralist literary theorists including Roland Barthes, Vladimir Propp, Joseph Campbell and Northrop Frye attempted to argue that all human narratives have certain universal, deep structural elements in common. This argument fell out of fashion when advocates of poststructuralism such as Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida asserted that such universally shared deep structures were logically impossible.
Northrop Frye in his Anatomy of Criticism deals extensively with what he calls myths of Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.
- Winter myths are dystopias, for example George Orwell's 1984 or Aldous Huxley's Brave New World or Ayn Rand novels including Anthem and Atlas Shrugged.
- Spring myths are comedies, i.e., stories that lead from bad situations to happy endings. Shakespeare's Twelfth Night is such a story.
- And finally Fall myths are tragedies that lead from ideal situations to disaster. Compare Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear and the movie Legends of the Fall.
Hollywood scriptwriters, television soap opera writers and indeed Shakespeare himself pay great attention to issues of structure.
