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THE RHETORICAL PRINCIPLES

OF NARRATION

CHAPTER I

DEFINITION

Narration "recounts the particulars of an occurrence, or makes a statement of facts, in chronological order.” — Standard Dictionary. Narration is "an orderly recital of the details and particulars of some transaction or event, or of some series of transactions or events." ·Century Dictionary.

"Narration is the recounting, in succession, of the particulars that together make up a transaction." — GENUNG: Working Principles of Rhetoric.

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AN examination of these three definitions, which may fairly be called typical, reveals the two underlying principles of all narrative writing: (a) the conception of a unit, variously termed an "occurrence, 'occurrence," a "transaction," and an "event"; and (b) the successive details that constitute this unit, arranged in their chronological order, in an "orderly recital," in a "series."

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From these essential parts of the three definitions in question it becomes apparent that the time-element plays a very important part in the process of narration, indeed, that it is fundamental. The unit variously denominated as an 'occurrence," a "transaction," an "event," is from its very nature temporal. It indicates a circumstance that presents itself in the course of time; it is generally a part of some larger temporal whole, — be of an era, or of a life, or of a mere brief experi

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ence, as illustrated respectively by Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Southey's Life of Nelson, or Hawthorne's Ambitious Guest. And in the second part of the definitions, the various terms "chronological order," "orderly recital," and "series" show again that time is an ultimate element, essential in that it determines the very order of the constituent parts. As logical relations underlie argumentative composition, and as spatial relations often are essential to expository composition, so the various considerations that arise in connection with narration depend fundamentally upon the time-element.

In illustration of what has been presented with reference to the definition of narration let us examine rather analytically two or three examples. The first is taken quite at random from a daily paper.

LEAPS TO HIS DEATH

a

Middletown, Del., July 11. Imagining he saw the headlight of another engine coming toward him, Randolph A. Wheeler, Delaware railroad engineer, driving a freight train, clapped on the brakes and leaped from the cab. Startled by the sudden action of the engineer, the fireman, without looking for the danger, also threw himself from the engine. The train came to a standstill and the conductor was surprised to find the enginecab deserted. The dead engineer and the injured fireman were then found lying along the track.

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Here, to apply the terminology used in the definition quoted from the Standard Dictionary, we have (a) the 'occurrence," which we may perhaps entitle "The tragic death of Randolph A. Wheeler," and which we may view as but part of a larger temporal whole, "The life of Randolph A. Wheeler"; or, from another point of

view, "The events of July 11." More than this "occurrence," we have also (b) the "particulars of the occurrence arranged in chronological order," viz.: (1) the fancied vision of the approaching engine; (2) the clapping on of the brakes; (3) the leap from the cab; (4) the fireman's fright; (5) the sudden stopping of the train; (6) the conductor's amazement at finding the cab deserted; (7) the discovery of the dead engineer and the injured fireman.

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The same fundamental elements are equally evident in more extended narrative writing; the short-story, for example, as illustrated in Maupassant's Necklace. In this case, applying the terms of the second definition, that from the Century Dictionary, we discover the "transaction or "event," in the episode indicated by the title, the loss and restoration of the diamond necklace. The "details" and "particulars" presented in "orderly recital" appear in the various items of the story itself, as contained in the sections into which it is usually subdivided. They may be indicated by the following titles:

I. Madame Loisel's Discontent.

II. The Invitation to the Ministerial Ball.

III. The Loan of the Necklace.

IV. The Loss.

V. The Restitution.

VI. The Ten-Years' Struggle.
VII. Revelation.

Again, we may discover the same underlying elements in the most elaborate forms of narrative literature, the novel, for example. If we examine George Eliot's Silas Marner in the light of Professor Genung's definition, we may say that the story in its entirety concerns

a "transaction," which we may entitle "The regeneration of Silas Marner, the weaver of Raveloe," a complete episode occurring within the broader circle of "rustic England in the previous century." Furthermore, the story consists in "recounting in succession the particulars that together make up this transaction," such particulars, to mention but a few out of many, - as (a) Marner's life at Lantern Yard; (b) his removal to Raveloe; (c) his miserly isolation; (d) the theft of his gold; (e) the entrance of Eppie into his life; (f) his love and care for the child; (g) Eppie's rejection of her father; (h) Marner's closing years.

Thus in all forms of what may be called narrative composition, ultimate analysis reveals these two fundamental elements, the unified, single occurrence, and the constituent details arranged in due order.

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In view of the foregoing considerations, it is interesting to observe how, at the outset, in the very terms of the definition, we are confronted with the two important rhetorical considerations, unity and coherence, considerations always important, but from its very character peculiarly essential to narrative writing. Later in the discussion they will be viewed at greater length; at this point, however, they may receive general consideration. In the term 'occurrence or "event," the idea of unity is implied; that is, of oneness, of subordination of details to one central idea. And in the ordering of the constituent "particulars in their chronological succession" lies the core idea of coherence; that is, of marshaling parts so as to attain culmination.

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If the writer has in mind no clearly defined central theme, no definite "event," his narrative will be characterized by indefiniteness, by seemingly unrelated

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