DIEGESIS. Interdisziplinäres E-Journal für Erzählforschung / Interdisciplinary E-Journal for Narrative Research 3.2
Date of publication: December 2014 Theme: Historical Narratology
Structuralist narratology has mainly focused on systematic aspects of narrative texts and on developing a universally valid terminology for the analysis of narratives. However, the history of storytelling is also a history of narrative forms. How can narratology account for historical change and variety in narration? A possible solution might be to regard formal aspects of narratives not as neutral containers of variable content, but as features themselves determined by the cultural and historical contexts in which they occur.
This issue focusing on historical narratology will investigate the historical semantics of narrative forms by looking at representative cases. Suitable contributions for this issue include, for example, diachronic studies on the development of specific motifs, themes, genres or forms of writing, such as providence vs. contingency, the fantastic vs. the neo- fantastic, the development of unreliable narration, the development of omniscient narra- tion, and the development of perspectival narration. Contributions can examine ancient, medieval and/or modern writing, both literary and non-literary. Also welcome are sys- tematic contributions or those reflecting the history of a discipline, which consider the possibilities and problems of a historical narratology.
DIEGESIS invites abstracts of approximately half a page (DIN-A4) by September 30th, 2013 at the latest. Please send your abstract, along with a brief CV, to the DIEGESIS editorial team: PD Dr. Matthias Aumüller or Dr. Filippo Smerilli (diegesis@uni-wuppertal.de). The editorial team and the editors will decide on the acceptability of proposals by November 30th, 2013. Contributions (approx. 15-20 pages) have to be submitted by June 30th, 2014. The issue on historical narratology will be published in December 2014.
In addition, always welcome are REVIEWS of new works (i.e. works published in the last three to four years) in the field of narratology, specifically cross-disciplinary contributions in addition to contributions from those working in the fields of language and literature. Recommendations for reviews can be sent to the aforementioned e-mail address at any time; in your e-mail, you should name the book(s) you would like to review and provide a brief overview of your academic career.
About DIEGESIS:
DIEGESIS is the first interdisciplinary journal dedicated to narrative research that provides free online access to full-text articles and reviews (www.diegesis.uni-wuppertal.de). The high standard of work published in DIEGESIS is ensured by a combination of competitive calls for papers and a peer review process.
DIEGESIS is published at the University of Wuppertal and in cooperation with the local Centre of Narrative Research (CNR) (www.zef.uni-wuppertal.de) by Matei Chihaia (Romance studies), Sandra Heinen (literature and media studies), Matías Martínez (German studies), Michael Scheffel (general literary studies) and Roy Sommer (English and American studies).