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Author Dannenberg, Hilary P.

Title Coincidence and counterfactuality : plotting time and space in narrative fiction / Hilary P. Dannenberg
Published Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, ©2008

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Description 1 online resource (xii, 289 pages) : illustrations
Series Frontiers of narrative
Frontiers of narrative.
Contents Theorizing time and space in narrative fiction -- Cognitive plotting : crossing narrative boundaries and connecting worlds -- Ontological plotting : narrative as a multiplicity of temporal dimensions -- Spatial plotting : paths, links, and portals -- Theorizing coincidence and counterfactuality -- The coincidence plot -- Counterfactuals and other alternate narrative worlds -- Coincidence and counterfactuality in the history of narrative fiction -- The metamorphoses of the coincidence plot -- The narrative evolution of counterfactuals
Summary "In Coincidence and Counterfactuality, a groundbreaking analysis of plot, Hilary P. Dannenberg sets out to answer the perennial question of how to tell a good story. While plot is among the most integral aspects of storytelling, it is perhaps the least studied aspect of narrative. Using plot theory to chart the development of narrative fiction from the Renaissance to the present, Dannenberg demonstrates how the novel has evolved over time and how writers have developed increasingly complex narrative strategies that tap into key cognitive parameters familiar to the reader from real-life experience." "Dannenberg proposes a new, multidimensional theory for analyzing time and space in narrative fiction, then uses this theory to trace the historical evolution of narrative fiction by focusing on coincidence and counterfactuality. These two plot strategies are constructed around pivotal moments when characters' life trajectories, or sometimes the paths of history, converge or diverge."--Jacket
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 255-282) and index
Notes English
Print version record
Subject Space and time in literature.
Coincidence in literature.
Fiction -- Technique.
Fantasy fiction, English -- History and criticism
TRAVEL -- Special Interest -- Literary.
LITERARY CRITICISM -- General.
LITERARY CRITICISM -- Semiotics & Theory.
Space and time in literature.
Coincidence in literature.
Fiction -- Technique.
Fantasy fiction, English -- History and criticism.
Coincidence in literature
Fantasy fiction, English
Fiction -- Technique
Space and time in literature
Raum-Zeit
Koinzidenz
Erzähltheorie
Englisch
Roman
Raum
Zeit
Zeit -- Literatur.
Raum -- Literatur.
Literatur -- Raum.
Literatur -- Zeit.
Raum.
Zeit.
Prosa.
Roman.
Genre/Form Criticism, interpretation, etc.
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9780803217614
0803217617
1281733997
9781281733993
9786611733995
661173399X