The narrative paradigm: Another story

The narrative paradigm, recently proposed as a model for rhetorical criticism, is problematic because of internal contradictions and inconsistencies. In the paradigm, the status of traditional rationality and the extent to which it is to be applied are unclear. The conditions in which the universal audience, the particular audience, and the critic are to serve as the source for critical judgment are also unclear. When we have only the immanent facts of the text (its narrative) and the personal judgment of the critic to rely on, we lack independent sources for judging the adequacy of a critic's claims about the text.