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Abstract

New Horizons in Narrative Theory spins out of a symposium sponsored by Project Narrative, “Multicultural Narratives and Narrative Theory.” This symposium, held at the Ohio State University during Oct. 25 – 27, 2007, brought together scholars from around the world working in, among other fi elds, narrative theory, U.S. ethnic studies, English studies and Anglophone literatures, linguistics, feminist and critical race theory, cognitive approaches to literature, and creative writing. Many of these scholars demonstrated how scholarship in narrative theory and work done under the umbrella designation of U.S. ethnic and postcolonial studies could create a productive synergy. Nonetheless, although Analyzing World Fiction was inspired by this symposium—and seeds planted there grew into several of the following essays—the collection expands the purview to include analyses not just of African American, Asian American, Filipino American, South Asian Indian, and U.S. Latina literature but also of literature from China, France, and the Francophone Caribbean. Moreover, it does not limit itself to the analysis of literature, for it encompasses work on AfroCaribbean British televisual stories and cinematic narratives by South Asian Indian and Mexican directors. Whereas each contributor uses a distinct theoretical approach, they all share a common sensitivity to the exigencies of proof and corroboration, as well as an understanding that ideological dogmatism impedes the exploration of the principles and mechanisms involved in the production and reception of narrative fi ction. In this, the essays I have collected here have affi nities with the work I have been doing since the publication of Postethnic Narrative Criticism (2003), followed by Brown on Brown (2005) and A User’s Guide to Postcolonial and Latino Borderland How to Use This Book