Issues in the Rhetorical Theory of Narrative: Progression, Ethics, and Unreliability in Fiction and Nonfiction

FAIN: FS-50024-04

Ohio State University Research Foundation (Columbus, OH 43210-1435)
James P. Phelan (Project Director: March 2004 to October 2006)

A six-week summer seminar for college teachers to explore rhetorical theories and the link between narrative form and narrative ethics.

The humanities, the social sciences, legal and medical studies, and other domains of knowledge have been experiencing a narrative turn in recent years, as scholars have focused on narrative's ability to capture truths and experiences in ways that other modes of explanation cannot. This seminar will explore narrative's power through an investigaton of some central issues in contemporary narrative theory: narrative progression, narrative ethics, and unreliable narration. Narratives to be considered include Jane Austen's Persuasion, Kazuo Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day, and Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes. Theorists considered include H. Porter Abbott, Wayne C. Booth, Charles Altieri, Robyn Warhol, Martha Nussbaum, and Sidonie Smith.