Introduction

When, in the 1960s, the study of narrative became self-consciously systematic, seeking to elaborate categories and models for the theory and analysis of literary narration, a term was required for what, it was felt, had become a branch of literary studies in its own right, and this was narratology. Narratology was not, however, so much a new field of study as it was an innovative convergence of already-existing specialties, for the theory of the novel had developed considerably since the time..