Seymour Chatman is Professor of Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley.

• Preface1. IntroductionNarrative and PoeticsElements of a Narrative TheoryIs Narrative a Semiotic Structure?Manifestation and Physical ObjectNarrative Inference, Selection, and CoherenceA Sketch of Narrative StructureA Comic Strip Example"Reading" and "Reading Out"2. Story: EventsSequence, Contingency, CausalityVerisimilitude and MotivationKernels and SatellitesStories and AntistoriesSuspense and SurpriseTime and PlotOrder, Duration, and FrequencyHow Time Distinctions Are ManifestedNarrative Macrostructure and the Typology of Plot3. Story: ExistentsStory-Space and Discourse-SpaceStory-Space in Cinematic NarrativeStory-Space in Verbal NarrativeStory-Existents: CharacterAristotle's Theory of CharacterFormalist and Structuralist Conceptions of CharacterTodorov and Barthes on CharacterAre Characters Open or Closed Constructs?Toward an Open Theory of CharacterCharacter: A Paradigm of TraitsKinds of CharacterA. C. Bradley and the Analysis of Character Setting4. Discourse: Nonnarrated StoriesReal Author, Implied Author, Narrator, Real Reader, Implied Reader, NarateePoint of View and Its Relation to Narrative VoicePoint of View in FilmNarrators' and Characters' Speech Acts"Nonnarrated" Representation in GeneralNonnarrated Types: Written RecordsPure Speech RecordsSoliloquyRecords of Thought: Direct Free Style = Interior MonologueStream of Consciousness = Free AssociationInterior Monologue in the Cinema5. Discourse: Covert versus Overt NarratorsCovert Narrators PresuppositionIndirect Tagged and Free StyleThe Manipulation of Sentences for Narrative Purposes: Presupposition as an ExampleLimitation of Authority in Narrative TransmissionShifting Limited versus Omniscient Mental AccessOvert Narration: Set DescriptionsOvert Narration: Temporal SummariesReports of What Characters Did Not Think or SayEthos and CommentaryCommentaryImplicit Commentary: Ironic Narrator and Unreliable NarratorCommentary and the Story: InterpretationCommentary and the Story: JudgmentCommentary and the Story: GeneralizationCommentary on the DiscourseThe NarrateeConclusionAppendix: Diagram of Narrative StructureIndexes: Author and Title, Subject

An important American contribution to the study of narrative theory.(Choice) What I appreciate most in Chatman's study are the problem-solving activities and ambitions: again and again, he proves capable of defining areas to investigate (the borders between narrative and other temporal genres, for example, the typography of plots, the distinctive features of foregrounding and backgrounding) and of discussing narrative in terms of problems and solutions. When I opened the Chatman volume, I read the blurb first: 'A judicious and well-informed book, Story and Discourse should become the standard guide to narrative and to modern thinking about narrative.' The blurb is right.- Gerald Prince (MLN)