Vera Nünning Libros

Though the phenomenon known as “unreliable narration” or “narrative unreliability” has received a lot of attention during the last two decades, narratological research has mainly focused on its manifestations in narrative fiction, particularly in homodiegetic or first-person narration. Except for film, forms and functions of unreliable narration in other genres, media and disciplines have so far been relatively neglected. The present volume redresses the balance by directing scholarly attention to disciplines and domains that narratology has so far largely ignored. It aims at initiating an interdisciplinary approach to, and debate on, narrative unreliability, exploring unreliable narration in a broad range of literary genres, other media and non-fictional text-types, contexts and disciplines beyond literary studies. Crossing the boundaries between genres, media, and disciplines, the volume acknowledges that the question of whether or not to believe or trust a narrator transcends the field of literature: The issues of (un)reliability and (un)trustworthiness play a crucial role in many areas of human life as well as a wide spectrum of academic fields ranging from law to history, and from psychology to the study of culture.

Sicher im Studium Die Reihe mit dem Grundlagenwissen sämtlicher Teildisziplinen des Studienfachs Anglistik / Amerikanistik Fragestellungen und wissenschaftliche Zusammenhänge des Faches Bietet Orientierung und kompaktes Wissen Einführung in die zentralen Themen und Methoden des Faches und in die englische / amerikanische Literaturgeschichte Für die gezielte und schnelle Vorbereitung auf Hochschulprüfungen übersichtlich und leicht verständlich Zu den Autoren: Vera Nünning ist Professorin für Englische Literaturwissenschaft an der Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg. Ansgar Nünning ist Professor für Englische und Amerikanische Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaft an der Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen. 

Focusing on essential concepts for cultural analysis, this book equips students with the tools needed for their research. It covers key terms like identity, performativity, and globalization, drawing on diverse fields such as anthropology, psychology, and sociology. By examining examples from British and North American cultural history, the text illustrates the relevance of these concepts in understanding cultural practices and daily life. The exploration of material and visual culture studies further enriches the discussion, making it a valuable resource for emerging scholars.

Taking as its point of departure Nelson Goodman's theory of symbol systems as delineated in his seminal book «Ways of Worldmaking», this volume gauges the possibilities and perspectives offered by the worldmaking approach as a model for the study of culture. The volume serves to demonstrate how specific media and narratives affect the worlds that are created, and shows how these worlds are established as socially relevant. It also illustrates the extent to which ways of worldmaking are imbued with cultural values, and thus inevitably implicated in power relations.

The contemporary British novel is thriving, engaging with 21st-century issues, generating new forms and sub-genres, and enjoying significant popularity and cultural prestige. This handbook provides an overview of key recent trends in the British novel, mapping discernible developments. The discussed novels are contextualized within broader cultural transformations, examining their responses to contemporary concerns. The selected authors, works, and trends reflect a wide spectrum of current themes, genres, contexts, and formal innovations. The handbook pursues three main aims: first, to explore key works by influential novelists of the new millennium; second, to survey significant developments, subgenres, themes, narrative techniques, and contexts, focusing on the cultural issues addressed by the novels; and third, to offer in-depth analyses and interpretations of the novels while showcasing various theoretical and methodological approaches. By addressing literary history in the making, this handbook serves as an essential guide for teachers, students, and readers interested in the new directions and diverse trajectories of British novels in the 21st century.

This book explores a phenomenon that has so far mainly been studied by psychologists and neuroscientists who are interested in how fictional stories can change readers' beliefs and even improve their abilities to understand others. 'Reading Fictions, Changing Minds' tries to redress the balance by combining concepts from narrative theory with insights from psychology in order to analyse why and how reading fictional narratives can enhance our cognitive abilities. In order to achieve a better understanding of the cognitive value of reading fiction, the book on the one hand applies concepts taken from psychology and the neurosciences to explore the cognitive potential of specific features of fictional stories. On the other hand, it uses insights from narrative theory to examine to what extent narrative is involved in making sense of human experiences. It is argued that engaging with fictional narratives can hone readers' skills of understanding other human beings, improve their narrative competence and serve as a privileged means of social learning for adults.

Ritual and narrative are pivotal means of human meaning-making and of ordering experience, but the close interrelationship between them has not as yet been given the attention it deserves. How can models and categories from narrative theory benefit the study of ritual, and what can we gain from concepts of ritual studies in analysing narrative? This book brings together a wide range of disciplinary perspectives including literary studies, archaeology, biblical and religious studies, and political science. It presents theoretical explorations as well as in-depth case studies of ritual and narrative in different media and historical contexts.

This volume offers an overview of some of the most important new approaches to narrative, while also delineating their usefulness as analytical tools and interpretative frameworks. Bridging the gap between theory and practice is at the heart of this volume, which aims not only at presenting new developments within narrative theory, but also at showing the benefits of such narratologically informed analyses. The contributors provide concise introductions to the premises, key concepts and methodology of cutting-edge approaches within the three fields of cognitive narratology, cultural narratology and what can be termed historical narratology, which is concerned with factual narratives of different genres. The chapters consist of two main parts each, the first outlining the key premises and concepts of the approach in question, and the second exemplifying its usefulness by applying its categories to the interpretation of a particular narrative. A general introduction gives an overview of recent trends in narrative theory; it also identifies gaps that might profitably be filled in the future.

Literatur aus dem geschlechterspezifischen Blickwinkel interpretieren. Welchen Einfluss hat der Gender-Aspekt beim Verfassen eines Erzähltextes? Die wichtigsten Methoden und Begriffe der genderorientierten Erzähltheorie stehen im Mittepunkt des Bandes. Er leitet dazu an, Erzähltexte geschlechterspezifisch zu analysieren und stellt den Zusammenhang her zwischen narratologischen Gesichtspunkten und den soziokulturellen Kategorien sex, gender und sexuality.