Narrative Causalities

Book excerpt: Narrative Causalities offers both an argument and a methodology. The argument is that interpretations of the consequences and causes of events are contextual and that narratives, by determining the context in which events are perceived, shape interpretations. The methodology, on which the argument is based, is a theory of functions. A function, in this theory, is a position in a causal sequence. A set of functions provides a vocabulary to analyze and compare interpretations of the causes and consequences of events-in our world, in narratives about our world, and in fictional narratives.