James Phelan Somebody Telling Somebody Else: A Rhetorical Poetics of Narrative in White

In Somebody Telling Somebody Else, James Phelan proposes a paradigm shift for narrative theory, a turn from viewing narrative as a structure to viewing it as a rhetorical action in which a teller selectively deploys the resources of storytelling in order to accomplish particular purposes in relation to particular audiences. Phelan explores the consequences of this shift for an understanding of various elements of narrative, including reliable and unreliable narration, charactercharacter dialogue, and occasions of narration. In doing so, he offers new readings of a wide range of narratives from Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice to Joan Didions The Year of Magical Thinking, from Joseph Conrads Lord Jim to George V. Higginss The Friends of Eddie Coyle, from Franz Kafkas "Das Urteil" to Toni Morrisons "Recitatif," from David Smalls Stitches to Jhumpa Lahiris "Third and Final Continent," from John OHaras "Appearances" to Ian McEwans Enduring Love. Phelan contends that the standard view of narrative as a synthesis of story and discourse is inadequate to handle the complexities of narrative communication, and he demonstrates the greater explanatory power of his rhetorical view. Furthermore, Phelan gives new prominence to the presence and activity of the "somebody else," as he shows that an audiences unfolding responses to a narrative often influence its very construction. | James Phelan Somebody Telling Somebody Else: A Rhetorical Poetics of Narrative in White