Narratology and Interactive Fiction

Metagame Book Club: Game Studies. "Narratology and Interactive Fiction" by Sherry Jones. Published Mar. 30, 2015. Last Updated: Jan. 16, 2019.

**This page was first published on the Metagame Book Club.

Image Source: Promo for the interactive fiction game, 80 Days.

Welcome to Week 2!

Welcome to the second week of Track 1: Game Studies of Interactive Fiction! During the first week, we covered the history and theories of Interactive Fiction, particularly the pervasive argument that the nature of IF works are neither stories nor games. With definition arguments that define IF works as storyworlds, narrative architectures, and interactive experiences, yet distinguishing IF works from stories (i.e. IFs as "not" stories), it behooves us to understand what stories, narratives, or narrativity mean to better understand the arguments.

For our second week, we will explore the field of narratology to learn why game scholars find narratological theories significant to the field of Game Studies. Narratology is the study of the structure in narratives, and furthermore, the fundamental units that compose the narrative itself (i.e. narremes). Born from Russian formalism, structuralism, semiology, and other literary traditions, narratology has revealed the complex nature and "grammar" of narrative structures. Influential narrative theorists include Gerard Genette, Roland Barthes, Joseph Campbell, Vladimir Propp, Claude Levi-Strauss, and Ludwig Wittgenstein (their texts are also assigned in this week's reading list). Many disciplines, such as phenomenology, media studies, cultural studies, computational linguistics, cognitive psychology, feminist studies, and more, have incorporated narratological theories into their own research. Particularly interesting is the current trend in game development of applying narreme rules and structures in the procedural generation of games.

Since the field of narratology has an extensive history full of multidisciplinary scholarship, I have chosen to assign only a few notable primary texts about the field, as well as texts regarding recent studies and designs of narratives in interactive fiction and digital games. The extensive reading list below is by no means comprehensive on the body of work in narratology. However, it is my intention to show readers the richness of the field with this humble collection of texts.

Please only choose to read one or more of the assigned texts from each section (remember that you are not expected to read all of the texts assigned!). For most primary texts, lecture and personal notes are placed beneath each primary text to help clarify complex concepts. We will have a live discussion on some of the reading materials at the #Metagame Book Club G+ Community website on Sunday, April 5, 2015 at 4 pm ET (use this nifty time zone converter to figure out when the live discussion will occur in your time zone). Join our G+ Community to receive the latest notifications of upcoming webinars and discussions.

Enjoy the readings! Onward~

-- Sherry Jones (Track 1: Game Studies Facilitator)


**This week's recorded live streaming video is published at the end of the page.


What is Narratology?

Theories of Narratology

Primary Texts on Narratology

Narrative Patterns and Story Structures

Game Studies, Narratology, and Interactive Fiction

Recorded Live Streaming Video (Review of This Week's Readings)

Published: April 5, 2015.