Narratological

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Relating to the analysis of how stories are constructed, including their point of view, plot structure, and storytelling methods
2. Concerning the scholarly examination of narrative elements such as character perspective, plot progression, and narrative technique
3. Of or pertaining to the theoretical study of how narratives are organized, told, and structured in literary and other works

Etymology: "Narratological" is an adjective built from "narratology" plus the adjectival suffix "-ical," so its meaning simply follows the word it grows from. "Narratology" is the study of narrative: how stories are structured, told, and understood, and the field itself is a relatively recent coinage. The base word comes from "narrate," itself traced back to the Latin "narrare," meaning "to relate, tell," and the "-logy" ending signals a field of study, the same pattern found in "biology" or "theology." The suffix "-ical" attaches to a noun to form an adjective meaning "relating to" that noun, so "narratological" describes anything concerning the analysis of narrative structure. Scholars use it to talk about, for example, a narratological approach to a novel, which asks how point of view, time sequence, or the role of the narrator shapes the reader's experience rather than what the story is about.

Synonyms: narrative, structural