This comprehensive, accessible guidebook traces the ways in which centuries of human beings have used narrative to make sense of time, space and identity. Particular attention is given to: early narrative, from Hellenic and Hebraic the rise of the novel realist representation imperialism and narrative modernism and cinema postmodern narrative narrative and new technologies. With a strong emphasis on clarity and a range of examples from oral cultures to cyberspace, this is the ideal guide to an essential critical topic.

Author Biography

Paul Cobley is Reader in Communications at London Guildhall University. He is author of The American Thriller and Introducing Semiotics, and editor of The Communication Theory Reader, The Routledge Companion to Semiotics and Linguistics and (with Adam Briggs) The Media: An Introduction. Guildhall University. He is the author of Routledge's Communication Theory Reader.