Unnatural Narratology: The Systematic Study of Anti‐Mimeticism

Unnatural narratology is a new field within narrative theory that seeks to focus on the anti‐mimeticism of many fictional narratives. In other words, the research program proposed by unnatural narrative theorists involves the systematic study of the various ways in which fictional narratives deviate from “natural” cognitive frames, i.e., real‐world understandings of time, space, and other human beings. In a second step, unnatural narratologists deal with the interpretative implications or potential functions of such deviations, i.e., the question of what the unnatural might mean or communicate to us. This article focuses on the cognitive branch within unnatural narratology.