An Overview Of Seymour Chatman's Narrative Theory

Seymour Chatman is one of the most famous American narratologists and rhetoricians in the 20 th century.He studied narrative from narrative internal and external perspectives.He divided narrative structure into two parts,story and discourse.He also made comparative study about narrative issues in fiction and film.He creatively checked the concept of Story,Discourse,Implied author,Narrative Communication,and the Point of View.At the same time,his narrative theories were widely discussed and had huge influence in the field of narrative,which presented the development of western narratology from classic to post-classic.But in China,little attention was paid on the overview of Chatman's narrative theory.So,this thesis will make a comprehensive,systematic and thorough study on Chatman's theory,including the foundation of narrative theory and the elements of narrative theory,especially the kernel concepts,Implied author and Cross-media narrative.In the end,this thesis will discuss the value and the limitation of his narrative theory,in order to give our narrative studies some effective suggestions.