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NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES IN EXPERIMENTAL LITERATURE AND
THEIR IMPACT ON STORYTELLING
Ergasheva Nigora Erkin kizi
English teacher at Academic lyceum of UzSWLU
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13641471
Abstract
. This article describes narrative techniques in experimental
literature and their impact on storytelling. The author summarizes the results of
research by domestic and foreign scientists, and names the criteria for
distinguishing between narrative forms that they have identified.
Keywords
: narrative techniques, literature, narrative strategy, subject of
utterance, storytelling.
Narrative device (narrative technique), also known in literary studies as
literary technique, a literary device is a specialized method that an author uses
to convey what the reader wants [1]; it is a strategy used in creating a narrative
to convey information to the reader and, in particular, to develop the narrative,
usually to make it more complete, complex, or interesting [2].
The concept of "narrative technique" is widely used in narrative theory
(narratology) and is applied to refer to the sum of the narrative devices used by
an author when writing literary works. [3] A narrative technique is a specific
type of literary device that is used in storytelling. Some narrative techniques are
widely used and can be found in most stories, while others are common strictly
in certain genres. One of the most widely used narrative techniques is the
"inciting incident" - this is the moment in the story when everything changes for
the protagonist, marking the point at which the central conflict comes into play.
There are narrative techniques such as:
Setting
(room, installation, environment) - is the environment in
which the action takes place; place, time and conditions of the action. Setting can
be considered in board and computer games, films, works of art, news, etc. By
describing the setting, the user defines the properties of reality modeled by the
media product. Setting is both time and geographic location in the narrative. The
literary element "setting" initiates the main background and mood of the story,
often called the world of the story. In James Joyce's novel Ulysses (1922), all the
action takes place in one city (Dublin) on one day (June 16, 1904).
Backstory
- is the story that precedes the events of the story being
told—past events or backstory that give meaning to the current circumstances.
Although The Lord of the Rings trilogy takes place in a relatively short period,
towards the end of the year 3021 of the Third Age, the narrative provides insight
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into mythological and historical events that occurred earlier in the Third Age
that preceded the action of the novel, as well as in the First and Second Ages.
Cliffhanger - is an artistic device in creating a storyline (mainly in
films and television series), during which the hero is faced with a difficult
dilemma or the consequences of his or her own or someone else's actions, but at
this point the narrative ends, thus leaving the outcome open until the sequel
appears. . This device is often used by writers to increase the likelihood that
viewers will be interested in the sequel in the hope of finding out how the story
ends. Cliffhangers ended all episodes (except, naturally, the last one) of
American film series from the 1930s to 1950s (for example, "The Mysterious
Doctor Satan", "The Man from the Martian Flying Disc"); now this device is often
used in television series as well (for example, "Dexter", "Breaking Bad")[2].
An unreliable narrator is a character who tells a story that is
deliberately unreliable. This violates the implicit contract between the author
and the reader that events must be described accurately.[1] Such a narrator
distorts the ending by revealing, almost always at the end of the narrative, that
he or she has manipulated or fabricated the previous story, thereby causing the
reader to question their previous assumptions about the text.[2] Such a narrator
is insincere or biased in their narrative and may mislead the reader by
concealing or downplaying events, characters, or motives. For example: Agatha
Christie's detective novel “The Murder of Roger Ackroyd”, which features a twist
ending in which the protagonist, physician James Sheppard, confesses what an
unreliable narrator he has been in the last chapter.
Framing or Plot within a Plot is a type of composition of a narrative
work in which one or more plot units (novellas, fairy tales, fables, parables) are
united by including them in an independent plot or non-plot unit - a frame. Non-
plot element of the narrative: a fragment of the text of a work of fiction that is
not directly related to the main narrative, but subordinated to the main idea of
the work [3]. The main story that generates a connecting series of shorter
stories. Examples: Panchatantra, Kalila va Dimna, One Thousand and One Nights,
The Decameron, in Stephen King's novel The Wind Through the Keyhole, the
main character tells his companions a story from his past, and in it he tells
another relatively unrelated story.
A flashback is a fictional device, primarily in film, in which the
narrative sequence is temporarily interrupted in order to show events in the
past. The opposite of a flashforward. The Arabian Nights fairy tale "The Three
Apples" begins with the discovery of a dead girl in a chest. After the murderer
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reveals himself, he recounts his motives for the murder in the form of memories
of the events leading up to her discovery of her death at the beginning of the
story.
A flashforward is a special case of prolepsis: a narrative technique
that involves deviating from reality and narrating into the future. It often
introduces events that are expected, predicted, or imagined to happen in the
future. They can also reveal important parts of the story that have not yet
happened but will soon be described in detail. The opposite of a flashback.
Example: Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol (the scene with the apparition of
the ghost of the future to Mr. Scrooge).
Eucatastrophe is a sudden turn of events in a story that ensures that
the protagonist does not meet some terrible, impending, and very plausible and
probable doom.[1] The opposite of peripeteia. The device was invented by J. R.
R. Tolkien. At the end of The Lord of the Rings, Gollum forcibly takes the One
Ring from Frodo, assuming that Sauron will eventually take over Middle-earth.
However, Gollum celebrates his victory too much and clumsily falls into the lava,
causing the ring to shatter and Sauron's power to vanish with it. In a sense,
Gollum does what Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring had intended to do
throughout the trilogy, namely, throw the ring into the lake of fire at the heart of
Orodruin.
In medias res is a term in traditional poetics that denotes the
beginning of an action or narrative with the central episode of the plot (its
introduction or even one of the twists and turns) without preceding it with
exposition and backstory, told on behalf of the author or introduced in
monologues and dialogues of the characters. This technique is actively used in
Luís de Camões's The Lusiads (the narrative begins in the middle of a sea voyage
to India and contextualizes the beginning of the said voyage; as well as the
history of Portugal, when the ship's captain tells this to the African king), and in
Homer's Iliad and Odyssey (the story begins with Odysseus's return home to
Ithaca, and then his memories tell of his ten years of wandering after the Trojan
War).
A red herring- is something that misleads or distracts from a
relevant or important question [3]. A false clue intended to lead investigators to
an incorrect decision [1]. A type of misdirection, a device intended to distract the
protagonist, and therefore the reader, from the correct answer or from the
location of relevant clues or actions. This plot twist is most common in the
detective and mystery genres. For example, in detective fiction, an innocent
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person may be deliberately portrayed as highly suspicious through appropriate
accent or descriptive devices in order to distract attention from the true culprit.
Ochi - is a sudden interruption in the flow of wordplay, indicating
the end of rakugo or kobanasi (an example in Japanese literature).
Predestination paradox - is a time travel paradox in which the
traveler finds himself in a loop of events that "predetermine" his journey back in
time. In the television series Doctor Who, the protagonist repeatedly finds
himself forced to travel back in time because of something his future self-did.
A narrative hook - is a literary device at the beginning of a story that
grabs the reader's attention and keeps them reading. The "introduction" can be a
few paragraphs for a short story or a few pages for a novel, but ideally it should
be the first sentence of the book.[2] A plot twist is an incident that changes the
situation in a film or television series from the point of view of the character
and/or the audience. A point in a script where the story takes an unexpected
turn, thereby making the author's work more unpredictable and therefore
interesting to the audience.[3] An example of a work with multiple plot twists
was the Arabian Nights fairy tale "The Three Apples". It begins with a fisherman
discovering a locked chest. The first twist occurs when a dead div is found
inside. The initial search for the killer fails, and the next plot twist occurs when
two men show up, separately claiming to be the killers [2].
Poetic justice - is a literary device common in European literature in
which virtue is ultimately rewarded and vice punished. In modern literature,
this is often accompanied by an ironic twist of fate related to the character's own
actions. Wile E. Coyote in each cartoon devises various ingenious devices to
catch the Road Runner, but in the end all his plans fail, and often he ends up
caught in his own traps. The punishment for every sin in Dante's Inferno is a
symbolic example of poetic justice.
A self-fulfilling prophecy - is a prediction that indirectly affects
reality in such a way that it ultimately turns out to be true. Examples: the legend
of Oedipus Rex and the story of Krishna in the Mahabharata.
Thus, the range of questions related to the study of narrative forms is wide: the
main subject of the narrative and the ways of its presentation; the presence in
the narrative of commentary assessments, summary observations and creative
reflection of the narrator as a sign of the emergence of an “explicit author”; the
possibilities of a polysubjective organization of the narrative structure and the
interaction of voices, points of view and positions of the author and the hero;
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ways of conveying the statements of characters; modernization of traditional
forms of narrative, changes in their structure and functions.
References:
1.
Abdullaev O. (2022). On Some Aspects of the Study of Narrative Forms. In
the World of Science and Art: Issues of Philology, Art Criticism and Cultural
Studies, (3 (69)), 195-201.
2.
Imikhelov N. V. (2024). Types of Narrative and Their Analysis. Philological
Class, (1), 16-25.
3.
Kozhevnikova N. On the Types of Narrative in Prose // Issues of the
Language of Contemporary Russian Literature. Edition-3. Moscow: Science.
2023.
