Narrative and Epic Prose: A Literary Overview
Narrative and Epic Prose: A Literary Overview
Narrative Genres
The narrative or epic, defined as the attention paid by the writer to what happens, is one of the literary genres, along with the lyric, dramatic, and didactic, which form different groups of literary works classified by common characteristics. Epic or narrative prose is typically presented in prose (except in cases such as romances or epic poems, written in verse).
Narrative Subgenres
The Short Story: A short story is usually brief, with a single plot and less complexity than a novel. While exact limits are hard to define, its length is shorter than a novel. A hybrid subgenre, the novella, has an intermediate length.
Traditionally, short stories were passed down orally. These popular stories often had a didactic or moralizing purpose (The Count, Don Juan Manuel, 14th century). From the 19th century, authors began writing short stories with artistic, though sometimes still moralizing, purposes. Most literary short stories are aimed at an adult audience and have a high concentration of action and characters (the tales of Edgar Allan Poe or the Legends of Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer).
The Novel: Longer and more complex than the short story, the novel is characterized by freedom; it is not limited and may incorporate elements of dramatic, theatrical, lyrical, or romantic descriptions. Subgenres include historical fiction, adventure, romance, detective, action, noir, psychological, chivalric, love, thesis, and social novels. The only condition is that it is written in prose and involves characters about whom something is said. Currently, the novel is the main literary subgenre. A powerful publishing market has made it the most widely read.
Action
Action unfolds before our eyes as we read. A narrative usually presents several simultaneous actions that form the body of the novel’s argument. Successive actions take place within the novel’s internal logic; the author must avoid contradictions. From a classical viewpoint, action usually follows this structure:
- Approach: Presentation of characters and setting where the action will develop. This exposes the temporal and spatial framework.
- Knot or Development: The situation described in the approach evolves, developing the conflict in which the characters are immersed. A novel usually has one or more main conflicts.
- Outcome: Resolution of the conflict and the end of the events. This can be happy, neutral, or unhappy.
Since the mid-20th century, this structure has changed:
- In medias res or abrupt beginning: Action starts in full development, without prior exposition.
- Reverse: The author reveals the denouement early and then shows how events lead to that conclusion.
- Open ending: The story ends unresolved, suggesting the action extends beyond the novel’s limits.
Time
Plot development usually evolves through time. It is not always presented linearly; the author can alter it for stylistic or structural purposes. This technique is called anachronism.
- Analepsis or retrospection (flashback): A leap backward in time.
- Prolepsis or anticipation (flash-forward): Mentioning events that have not yet occurred.
Space
The physical setting where characters are located is a major resource for authors. Stories can be set in one or several places, indoors or outdoors, rural or urban, etc.
Characters
Characters are real or fictitious people who develop the action. Main characters are called actors; others are secondary. The narrator should provide a physical, psychological, or mixed characterization.
Narrator
The narrator’s voice is essential. The author can narrate events directly or choose a character to narrate from within the story. A single story can have different narrators, offering various viewpoints. In mid-century novels, it is increasingly common to have multiple narrators, creating a collective narrative where the reader gets a complete and diverse history from different perspectives.