Theory & Criticism
Narratology
Narratology is the theory of narrative, studying the structure, levels, and means of the artistic presentation of events. It arose on structuralist ground in the late 1960s; the term was introduced by Tzvetan Todorov. Narratology distinguishes story (fabula — the sequence of events) from discourse (the manner of their presentation), and investigates the narrator, point of view (focalization), narrative levels, and narrative time (order, duration, frequency). The classic model was developed by Gérard Genette in 'Narrative Discourse' (1972), which introduced the concepts of focalization, analepsis (flashback), and prolepsis (flashforward). Significant contributions were also made by Roland Barthes, A.-J. Greimas, Mieke Bal, and Franz Stanzel. The rise of 'postclassical narratology' extended it into cognitive, feminist, and transmedial studies. The narratological toolkit is indispensable for analyzing prose composition.
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Meaning, origins and distinction — side by side.
Distinction
Two disciplines of different scope. Semiotics is the GENERAL science of signs and sign systems in language, literature and culture; it studies how meaning is created and transmitted at all (Saussure, Peirce, Lotman, Eco). Narratology is a NARROWER, special theory of narrative: narrative structure, narrator, focalisation, narrative time (Genette). Semiotics is about the sign in general; narratology, about one type of sign-construction, the story. Narratology rests on semiotics like a part on the whole.
