Reading Narrative Fiction

Reading Narrative Fiction by Chatman, Seymour. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780023221118.

This short fiction anthology offers a more precise and extensive treatment of narrative technique than other books of its kind. Targeting the needs and interests of todays readers, the author uses down-to-earth language and builds on readers familiarity with narrative devices in film, television, and other popular media to teach this new approach to literary analysis. While offering more technical depth, Chatman never overwhelms. He provides unusually clear and exact definitions of such terms as "characterization" and "point-of- view", along with many illustrations of how these techniques actually operate in short stories. His explanations and examples enable readers to read narratives with a new awareness of how they are constructed.