An Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narrative

TK23 ("C o m m u n ic a tio n s " N o. J, 19⁵]narratives, of oonrse. . All narratives? Many commentators who admit the idea of a narrative structure cannot reconcile themselveoto follow ing the example' of the experimental sciences in their. liwrary (analysis* They boldly suggest the application of a purely inductive'method to study the narrative, beginning with all the narratives of one genre, one period, or one society and thence proceeding to the! outline of a general pattern. This implies a Utopian view of man's interest* The science of linguistics itself, which has only three thousand languages to encompass does not attempt this; wisely, a deductive method h? s been adopted and since then it has really established itself and forged/ ahead even suc ceeding in predicting facts still to be discovered. *what abqut narra tive analysis confronted by millions of narratives? It must adopt a deductive process; first it must formulate a hypothetical pattern of description (what American students of linguistics call a "theory" theorie, and thence cotae down gradually, from the starting point of this pattern, towards tile examples of narratives which at once conform with and differ from the pattern: it is only at the level of these con formities and differences that it will rediscover, now provided with a unique tpol of description, the multiplicity of narratives, their his torical, geographical, cultural diversity. Î n o r d e r to describe and classify the infinite number of narra tives, therefore, it is necessary to have a "theory" (in the pragmatic sense mentioned above) and the first task is to search for and to out line this theory. The elaboration of this theory can be greatly faci litated if one follows a pattern which will provide one with first terms and first principles. At the present stage of research it would seem reasonable to adopt as a basic pattern for the structural analysis of the narrative the science of linguistics itself.