Narratologi

Narratologi, commonly known in English as narratology, is the scholarly study of narrative and narrating. It analyzes how stories are constructed, transmitted, and interpreted across media, including literature, film, theatre, and digital media. A central concern is the distinction between the events of the story (fabula) and the way they are presented to an audience (syuzhet), and how this arrangement shapes meaning. The field also examines narrators, characters, focalization, voice, reliability, and metafiction.

Core concepts in narratology address how time and perspective are organized in a narrative. This includes the ordering of events (order), the duration of events on the page, and the frequency with which events occur. It also covers point of view and the level at which a story is told, such as first-person or external narration, and how distance or closeness to the action affects interpretation. Terminology such as narration, diegesis, and discourse is used to distinguish between the storytelling process and the content of the story.

Historically, narratology emerged as a formal discipline in the mid-20th century with the work of scholars such as Gérard Genette, who systematized narrative discourse; and was influenced by structuralism, semiotics, and broader literary theory. Other influential figures include Tzvetan Todorov, Roland Barthes, Wayne C. Booth, and Mieke Bal. The approach has been applied beyond literature to film, television, comics, and interactive media like video games, making it relevant to a range of storytelling practices.

Applications in research and pedagogy include textual analysis, genre studies, and reception theory. Narratology continues to evolve with interdisciplinary methods that incorporate cognition, reader response, and interactivity to address contemporary narrative forms.