The Classical Plot and the Invention of Western Narrative

How western literature developed the economical plotting still supreme in modern fiction and cinema.

List of contents

Part I. The Classical Plot: 1. Approaches; 2. A cognitive model; 3. The narrative universe; 4. The classical plot; 5. Unclassical plots; Part II. The Classical Plots: 6. Epic myth I: Iliad; 7. Epic myth II: Odyssey; 8. Dramatic myth: tragedy and satyr-play; 9. Dramatic fiction: New Comedy; 10. Epic fiction: the Greek novel; Conclusion; Glossary.

Summary

This is the story of how western literature first developed its distinctive taste for the kind of tight, economical plotting still supreme in modern fiction and cinema. The book shows how this taste was formed in Greco-Roman antiquity out of a series of revolutions in storytelling.

Product details

• Authors: N. J. Lowe
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 12.01.2011
• EAN: 9780521771764
• ISBN: 978-0-521-77176-4
• No. of pages: 308
• Dimensions: 157 mm x 235 mm x 23 mm
• Weight: 653 g
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies