Includes bibliographical references (p. 183-186) and index.

Machine generated contents note: Chapter 1 Narrative and life 1 -- The universality of narrative 1 -- Narrative and time 3 -- Narrative perception 6 -- Chapter 2 Defining narrative 12 -- The bare minimum 12 -- Story and narrative discourse 14 -- The mediation (construction) of story 17 -- Constituent and supplementary events 20 -- Narrativity 22 -- Chapter 3 The borders of narrative 25 -- Framing narratives 25 -- Paratexts 26 -- The outer limits of narrative 27 -- Is it narrative or is it life itself? 31 -- Chapter 4 The rhetoric of narrative 36 -- The rhetoric of narrative 36 -- Causation 37 -- Normalization 40 -- Masterplots 42 -- Narrative rhetoric at work 46 -- Chapter 5 Closure 51 -- Conflict: the agon 51 -- Closure and endings 52 -- Closure, suspense, and surprise 53 -- Closure at the level of expectations 54 -- Closure at the level of questions 56 -- The absence of closure 57 -- Chapter 6 Narration 62 -- A few words on interpretation 62 -- The narrator 63 -- Voice 64 -- Focalization 66 -- Distance 67 -- Reliability 69 -- Free indirect style 70 -- Narration on stage and screen 72 -- Chapter 7 Interpreting narrative 76 -- The implied author 77 -- Underreading 79 -- Overreading 82 -- Gaps 83 -- Cruxes 85 -- Repetition: themes and motifs 88 -- Chapter 8 Three ways to interpret narrative 93 -- The question of wholeness in narrative 93 -- Intentional readings 95 -- Symptomatic readings 97 -- Adaptive readings 100 -- Chapter 9 Adaptation across media 105 -- Adaptation as creative destruction 105 -- Duration and pace 107 -- Character 109 -- Figurative language 111 -- Gaps 114 -- Focalization 115 -- Constraints of the marketplace 118 -- Chapter 10 Character and self in narrative 123 -- Character vs. action 123 -- Flat and round characters 126 -- Can characters be real? 127 -- Types 129 -- Autobiography 131 -- Life writing as performative 134 -- Chapter 11 Narrative contestation 138 -- A contest of narratives 138 -- A narrative lattice-work 142 -- Shadow stories 144 -- Motivation and personality 146 -- Masterplots and types 148 -- Revising cultural masterplots 150 -- Battling narratives are everywhere 152 -- Chapter 12 Narrative negotiation 156 -- Narrative negotiation 157 -- Critical reading as narrative negotiation 162 -- Closure, one more time 168 -- The end of closure? 171.