Coming to Terms

To me the most relevant contribution Chatman makes here is the differentiation of Genette's term focalization to differ between the narrator and the character. The narrator would give a 'slant', and the character a 'filter'. He also reasons about how texttypes can be used 'in service' of each other, makes a defence of the concept of 'implied author' and goes more deeply into cinematic narration than he did in his last book. A good read.

Chatman walks the reader through different narrative models, looking for one which applies to both novels and cinema. He builds on the work of scholars such as Bordwell and Booth to reach his conclusions. The book is broken into three rough sections. The first four chapters consider the relationship of narrative to other kinds of discourse. For instance, he explores how a text-type such as description fits into the narrative framework. The second section of the book addresses narrative formulations internal to either cinema or novels. I found this personally the most useful section. I particularly liked the distinction that he made between an unreliable narrator and a fallable filter. Finally, in the last chapter, Chatman moves towards synthesis and builds his conclusions by attempting to redefine the Booth notion of a rhetoric of fiction. I found as a reader that I was well-enough versed with film theory to follow most of the book. I have not read as completely in Narratology (rhetoric) as I should have to really get the most out of it. While I understand that he would rather have had people rent the films than print stills, it was a little frustrating to find references to long out-of-print advertisements and not be able to visualize what was meant. Chatman is a Emeritus Professor of Rhetoric at UC Berkeley.