Contemporary French and Francophone Narratology

The essays included in this collection seek to take the pulse
of recent developments in narratological research in the
French-speaking countries. Theorists in these countries heavily
participated in and shaped narratology, an outgrowth of the
structuralist movement during the 1960s and 1970s. While US,
German, and Scandinavian theorists took the forefront in the
1990s, narratology in France faded into the background. It was not
until the turn of the century that a new interest in narratological
issues among French researchers emerged. Activity in the field has
since intensified, spurred on, in part, by the realization
that narratology cannot be summed up by its formalist and
structuralist origins.
Well-versed in French narrative theory, both classical and more
recent, the authors in this collection also draw on scholarship
coming from other research traditions. The result is that these
contributions offer a number of syntheses and perspectives
representative of recent French-language scholarship in the field
that readers may not be familiar with or that provide them with
further insight into subjects they may have encountered in other
contexts. This volume will leave readers with a greater awareness
of the directions taken by present-day French-language
narratology as well as new and developing themes in narrative
theory generally.