engleski

Narrative as a term in narratology and music theory

The aim of this paper is to compare the term narrative as used by narratologists and by music theoreticians. According to Maria Teresa Cabré (1999), terms are “specialized words occurring in natural language which belong to specific domains of usage” (32). Furthermore, terminology “differentiates special languages from the general language and also the various special languages from one another” (45). Finally, every term belongs to a specific conceptual system ; while different meanings of the same word in general language imply polysemy, terms are considered monoreferential. Their manifestations in different fields of study refer to different concepts, and thus result in homonymy (108). Narrative is the central term of narratology as a semiotic theory. Major theoreticians include Gérard Genette (1980, 1988) and Seymour Chatman (1978). Building upon earlier structuralist theories, Genette formulates a systematic theory of the narrative in literature, focusing on the narrative potential of language as its medium. Chatman broadens the term to other media, such as film and comic books, establishes the model of the narrative based on Hjelmslev’s model of sign, and develops the model of narrative transmission. These authors provide the definition of the narrative as it is widely accepted today, and as a starting point for further considerations. Roland Barthes is another author who has been largely influential, especially in his understanding of the narrative as a phenomenon “distributed amongst different substances – as though any material were fit to receive man’s stories” (1966/1977: 79). Recent developments in the theory of the narrative are directed towards “transmedial narratology” (Herman 2004), the “languages of storytelling” (Ryan 2004) and “media-conscious narratology” (Ryan & Thon 2014). Studies in medium-specific models of narratives apply the term to different kinds of discourses, i.e. different media, or different “languages of storytelling”. Music theoreticians have also adopted the term, considering its application in musical scholarship and/or aiming at a theory of the musical narrative. These include Patrick McCreless (1988), Jean-Jacques Nattiez (1990), Eero Tarasti (2002), John Roeder (2006), Byron Almén (2008), Kofi Agawu (2009), Michael L. Klein (2013), and others. The present research compares the narratological concept of the narrative with the concept of the narrative in musical theory, to establish whether these two disciplines use the term in the same way or as homonyms. The analysis shows that, in the general theory of the narrative, the concept comprises both story and discourse based on the referentiality of the discourse, which necessarily evokes a storyworld. Narratologists generally find music to be incapable of producing a narrative in this sense, but do consider it a component of the combined discourse of films, musicals, operas, songs, etc. (cf. Barthes 1970/1977, Hansen 2010). Music theorists do rely on the theory of the narrative and generally acknowledge the limitations of the referentiality of musical discourse, yet they discover in it specific, abstract narrative meanings. Therefore, despite common starting points and principles, the two disciplines use the term narrative to denote two different concepts, and the term becomes homonymous.

narrative ; music theory ; media-conscious narratology ; discourse ; terminology

Rad je u cijelosti objavljen 2018. godine u časopisu "Rasprave" 44 (2).