What is Unnatural Narratology?

In this talk Richardson explains and defends the new literary theoretical concept of 'Unnatural Narratives' and offers an overview that discusses their theory and practice, nature and extent.  He proposes a definition of unnatural narrative, discusses degrees of the presence of the unnatural in narratives, and points to the often unlikely presence of unnatural narratives in different periods and literary traditions.  He differentiates unnatural narratives from superficially similar types and genres, such as science fiction, the marvellous tale, allegory, and alternative history, and discusses borderline cases and the question of the persistence of the unnatural over time and across cultures.  He concludes with a discussion of the prehistory of attempts to move beyond the mimetic framework in the history of critical theory.

Brian Richardson is a professor of English at the University of Maryland, and a past president of the International Society for the Study of Narrative.  His primary interests are in narrative theory, modernism and postmodernism; among his publications in these fields are Unlikely Stories: Causality and the Nature of Modern Narrative (1997) and Unnatural Voices: Extreme Narration in Modern and Postmodern Fiction (2006).  He is also the editor of Narrative Dynamics: Essays on Plot, Time, Closure and Frames (2002), and Narrative Beginnings (2008); and co-editor of Narrative Theory: Core Concepts and Critical Debates (2012).

This talk is co-sponsored by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Narrative Studies and the English Department.