The Evolution of Narratology

Abstract

A discussion of current developments in the discipline of narratology, as seen in the 3rd conference of the European Narratology Network. The continuing relevance of the discipline's historical core grounded on structural poetics, semiotics, and aesthetics is acknowledged, even as new developments in cognitive science, complexity studies and evolutionary theory help reassess the aims of the discipline and the nature of narrative, further transforming the discipline, as the cultural turn had done from the 1990s. The discussion stresses the relevance of conceptual perspectives which help to integrate narratological analysis with the current ongoing understanding of culture as ecologically situated within a global dynamics ("Big history").

Keywords: Big history, Narratology, Narrative, Disciplines, Cognitive science, Literary criticism, Semiotics