Language in Society

Table of Contents - 2003 - Volume 32, Issue 05  


REVIEWS

DAVID HERMAN, Story logic. Lincoln & London: University of Nebraska Press, 2002, Pp. xvi, 477. Hb $60.00

Anna  De Fina  a1
a1 Italian Department, Georgetown University, Washington DC 20058, definaa@georgetown.edu

One of the virtues of David Herman's Story logic lies in its attempt to bring together literary and linguistic approaches to the study of narrative. The attempt results in a synthesis that promotes a better understanding of discourse for literary scholars and a deeper grasp of basic narratology tools for discourse analysts. The title of the volume reflects one of the main points of the book: that “stories both have a logic and are logic in their own right” (p. 22) because they constitute a powerful instrument for understanding the world. The more general objective of the analyses presented in the volume is to work toward a cognitive approach to narrative in which narrative understanding is explained as a process of creating and updating mental models of particular storyworlds. Thus, Herman looks at language theory and narrative theory as theoretical frames that not only can enrich each other, but that also constitute a resource for cognitive science in general.

(Received December 10 2002)