Narrative Time

Karin Wenz, Assistant Professor of English, University of Kassel

When we examine what a narrative provides, we find as its most important feature the sequence of events, which leads to a final event or solution.That means that the sequence of events explains this final event. As a result the narrative - its structure and purpose- is an explanation. This explanation is developed along the lines of narrative time. Genette divides narrative time into three sections. Each time-category has to be seen as the relationship between the single event and the narrative whole. The categories are order, duration, and frequency.

see also point-by-point