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INTENTION AND NARRATIVE

INTENTION AND NARRATIVE Jon-K Adams There are two major types of Intention that are essential to the conception and analysis of narrative: the intentions of characters and the intentions of narrators. The intentions of characters account for many of the events in narrative because many narrative events are actions that the characters perform, and these actions are often among the most significant events in a narrative, such äs Oedipus's act of fleeing Corinth, or Gatsby's act of pursuing Daisy. As actions, such events are understood in terms of the intentions that lead up to them and that explains why, for example, Oedipus flees Corinth, or why Gatsby pursues Daisy. In other words, a character's intentions establish major links in the sequence of events that form the structure of narrative. At the same time, the intentions of narrators account for the narrative event itself because narrating is an action that the narrator performs. As an intentional act, narrating is understood in terms of the narrator's intentions, that is, in terms of why the narrator teils a story. When we focus, for example, on the question of why Nick Carraway teils a story about Gatsby, and thus analyze Carraway's intention, we provide the http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Literary Semantics de Gruyter

INTENTION AND NARRATIVE

Journal of Literary Semantics , Volume 20 (2) – Jan 1, 1991

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References (2)

Publisher
de Gruyter
Copyright
Copyright © 1991 by the
ISSN
0341-7638
eISSN
1613-3838
DOI
10.1515/jlse.1991.20.2.63
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Jon-K Adams There are two major types of Intention that are essential to the conception and analysis of narrative: the intentions of characters and the intentions of narrators. The intentions of characters account for many of the events in narrative because many narrative events are actions that the characters perform, and these actions are often among the most significant events in a narrative, such äs Oedipus's act of fleeing Corinth, or Gatsby's act of pursuing Daisy. As actions, such events are understood in terms of the intentions that lead up to them and that explains why, for example, Oedipus flees Corinth, or why Gatsby pursues Daisy. In other words, a character's intentions establish major links in the sequence of events that form the structure of narrative. At the same time, the intentions of narrators account for the narrative event itself because narrating is an action that the narrator performs. As an intentional act, narrating is understood in terms of the narrator's intentions, that is, in terms of why the narrator teils a story. When we focus, for example, on the question of why Nick Carraway teils a story about Gatsby, and thus analyze Carraway's intention, we provide the

Journal

Journal of Literary Semanticsde Gruyter

Published: Jan 1, 1991

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