Oldal 23 [23]
22] Digital Media and Storytelling in Higher Education
supposed story (i.e., the logical-chronological-causal order of events). This
conceptualization is similar to that ofthe structuralist linguistics dichotomy
of language (langue) and speech (parole) (Saussure, 1916/1967). Language is
a set of grammatical procedures and structures, while speech is a particular,
individual representation of linguistic structures.
Narratology takes a very different approach to the conceptualization
of narrative, making a fundamental distinction between the author and
the narrator, and between the hero and the narrator. There is, however, an
important conceptual nuance between the definitions of narrative found
in the social sciences and those in narratology. Narrative can be generally
defined as the act of structuring signs in a narrative way, and it can also
be used to refer to a narrative structure itself (in verbal, kinetic, iconic or
audiovisual form). The term narrative, however, has an additional meaning
beyond the general one used in the social sciences, as it can also refer to a
typical paradigm of thought.
The narration is the way the narrative is created and presented. Narration
involves both the act of creation and the act of reception, so in the process,
there is a narrative agent (narrator) and a receiver. The narrator is present in
the syuzhet while the author produces the text. The two are not the same, as
the narrator is invented by the author to tell the story - although the two roles
may merge in the case of certain types of autobiographical or journalistic texts.
In narratology, Genette’s (1983) conceptual framework highlights the
difference between author and narrator. Gennette asks two simple questions:
who perceives events and who narrates them. In Genettes conception, the
narrator can always be seen as a subject, even if he or she does not appear
directly in the narrative. When the narrator’s voice is part of the world that
is narrated, the narrative position is homodiegetic. When the narrator is not
a part of the narrative, but is an outsider to the story being told, his or her
position is heterodiegetic. However, the narrator's position can vary within
a narrative. The narrator, according to Genette, can be at different distances
from the narrative; in this sense, his or her voice can be heard in narrated,
transposed or reported speech.
Genette introduces a new concept related to the narrator’s knowledge
horizon, namely focalization, which is an extended version of the earlier
Todorovian concepts of aspect and perspective. The narrator can also narrate
from an external point of view, describing the action from an external
perspective, as well as the characters and their environment. But the narrator
can also narrate through the characters’ point of view - for example, in
narratives of the self - and the point of view of the narrator can change
during the narration.’
1 Genette defines zero focalization as a kind of authorial position in which the narrator knows more
about events than the character. Internal focalization is when the narrator has the same knowledge as
the character. External focalisation is when the narrator's voice reflects a lesser degree of knowledge
relative to the characters, as the narrator does not know the inner world of a given character.