© Columbia University Press
A Theory of Narrative
Paper, 392 pages, 40 illus.
ISBN: 978-0-231-14429-2
$27.50
/ £19.00
July, 2008
Cloth, 392 pages, 40 illus.
ISBN: 978-0-231-14428-5
$79.50
/ £55.00
"This is a large, ambitious study that proposes an original, comprehensive theory of narrative. Rick Altman draws on examples ranging from the Bible to Hollywood films, from classical epic and pastoral to medieval heroic poetry, and from saints' lives to nineteenth- and twentieth-century French, British, and American novels, all analyzed within an impressively parsimonious scheme." — Peter Garrett, University of Illinois
"An elegant and pertinent theory." — Matt Campora, Media/Culture Reviews
"Rick Altman makes a genuinely rich and very useful move in the theory of narrative and does so with style, elegance, clarity, and verve. There are even some touches of humor, and the whole is immensely readable. He grounds his argument in a large number of examples, and a good deal of his book's persuasive force derives precisely from the range and variety of these examples." — L. Ross Chambers, professor emeritus, The University of Michigan