The 7 Most Important Narrative Genre Characteristics

Some of the most important features of the narrative genre are the multiplicity of discourses, the subjectivity of the narrator, the possibility of application in various arts or its origin in ancient Mesopotamia.

Plainly known as narrative, it is considered one of the literary genres of greater importance and practice in society and literature.

The characteristics of the narrative genre are unreachable

Basically, it consists of the story of a succession of events that occur around a character, from the perspective of a narrator, which can have multiple forms and qualities.

The narrative genre adopts diverse physical formats, like the story or the novel; As well as variations or sub-genres, such as non-fiction, or historical or journalistic narrative.

The narrative is not limited to the literary form, although that is where it was born and developed in all its splendor.

If narrative genre is summed up in the capacity for a story to be coherent, it can be applied in other forms of expression such as cinema, television, radio, comic, and even video games.

Due to its subjective nature, the narrative, through its practitioners, has found new elements that are added to popularize it on another genre or make it more effective within a certain format.

The rules or approximations imposed over the years (types of narrators, literary figures, narrative knots, etc.) have never been rigid, and the transgression of these has allowed to extend the literary life of many products.

7 main characteristics of the narrative genre

1- Multiplicity of speeches

Narrative genre is admitted not only in literature, but in other forms of expression that have been able to adopt the chronological narrative as a basis for its manifestation or presentation.

The narrative can be found in cinematographic, poetic, journalistic, historical discourses, etc.

The case of historiography has been striking, since it adopted the narrative genre as the main form of expression in specialized works.

In this way it can facilitate the consumption and understanding of the historiographical texts, providing a dynamic and even playful look.

Otherwise it may be that of the anthropology , Where the subjectivity of the writer (and narrator in his own work) can interfere with the intention of exposing without manipulation the customs or ways of being of an ancient civilization, for example.

2- Main Categories

Fiction in prose is the most popular category and exploited by the narrative, from the novel and the story mainly.

However, in order to soften the consumption of other high-value content, the fictionalization of historical or fantastic events began to see place through genres as The myth and the legend and the fable .

Non-fiction, which consists of the account of real events, is manifested from journalism, biographies and historiography, mainly.

3- Millenary origin

The Epic of Gilgamesh Is one the first narrative texts discovered and conserved until the present time.

It is a story in verses, which tells the story of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk, located about 2000 BC and considered a key document in the religion of ancient Mesopotamia.

This series of verses was then compiled into a single unified and coherent version that expanded the potential of epic and historiographic narration.

Expressions of this type marked what would be the evolution of the many narrative discourses that would find place until our days.

Just as Gilgamesh is an example of narrative verse, Icelandic sagas could be an example of narrative prose used today in some branches of journalism, such as chronicle or interpretive reporting.

4- Subjectivity of the narrator

The narrator is the main figure of the narrative, and can have multiple forms and variations, today much more subject to the style of the artist or the practitioner of some office that accepts.

The types of narrators have been divided between intradiegéticos or extradigéticos, depending on the position they have in history and the type of person in which they are expressed (first or third person, for example, in the case of literature).

  • Intradiegetic Narrator : It is divided into homodiegetics, characterized mainly by the participation of the narrator as a personage in history, whose narrative capacities are limited to the encounters and actions that he makes during the story; And heterodiegetic, in which the narrator may have knowledge of actions in which he does not participate.
  • Extradiegetic Narrator : The most prominent is the well-known omniscient narrator, who does not necessarily have to have a form in history, or even refer to himself, but has the maximum knowledge about the universe of the story.
  • Multiple storyteller : A new style of narration, in which this is marked by the participation of multiple characters who also serve as narrators, and each gives the narration a perspective dictated by their individual qualities and characteristics. It is not necessary that there be a consensus or central point between the different versions of the narration within history.

5- Emotional ability

As a genre present in different forms of artistic expression, narrative in literature, poetry, cinema, etc. Has been the most complete technique for expression and the ability to generate empathy In a reader or spectator.

Therefore, through linguistic constructions adapted to the medium, it seeks to generate emotions in the audience, in a way that could not achieve another type of prose alone.

6- Application in other arts

Like music or photography, he has begun to adapt the narrative qualities to his own supports.

They have been broadening horizons and breaking paradigms, allowing to affirm that any expression or manifestation organized in a coherent way can have the ability to tell a story.

7- Psychological Aspects

Modern man has been accustomed to the constant flow of stories from almost anywhere in today's society.

This has allowed human life itself to be viewed from each individual as an unfinished story, in which the person takes the reins as narrator and protagonist, being able to assign their experiences to the way in which the rest of the world perceives.

The psychological aspects of the narrative goal, as an impalpable element, creates stronger links in the consumption of texts or narrative products.

In them, man is capable, not only of finding himself in other characters or contexts, but also of discovering, or rediscovering himself.

References

  1. Coats, G. W. (1983). Genesis, with an Introduction to Narrative Literature. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.
  2. Gallie, W.B. (2001). Narrative and Historical Understanding. In G. Roberts, The History and Narrative Reader (pp. 40-51). Psychology Press.
  3. Hatch, J.A., & Wisniewski, R. (2002). Life History and Narrative. Routlege.
  4. Hunter, K.M. (1996). Narrative, Literature, and the Clinical Exercise of Practical Reason. 303-320.
  5. Keen, S. (s.f.). A Theory of Narrative Empathy.
  6. Lacey, N. (s.f.). Narrative and Genre. Palgrave.


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