Transmedial Narratology and Contemporary Media Culture - (Frontiers of Narrative) by Jan-Noël Thon (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Narratives are everywhere--and since a significant part of contemporary media culture is defined by narrative forms, media studies need a genuinely transmedial narratology. Against this background, Transmedial Narratology and Contemporary Media Culture focuses on the intersubjective construction of storyworlds as well as on prototypical forms of narratorial and subjective representation.

This book provides not only a method for the analysis of salient transmedial strategies of narrative representation in contemporary films, comics, and video games but also a theoretical frame within which medium-specific approaches from literary and film narratology, from comics studies and game studies, and from various other strands of media and cultural studies may be applied to further our understanding of narratives across media.

Review Quotes

"A cutting-edge contribution to transmedial narratology. . . . A highly recommended book and a solid foundation for further development in its field/s."--Jan Horstmann, Style

"An excellent contribution to transmedial narratology."--Hans-Joachim Backe, Diegesis: Interdisciplinary E-Journal for Narrative Research

"An extremely valuable contribution to the efforts of achieving a truly transmedial perspective without losing sight of the media-specific aspects of texts."--Sarah E. Beyvers, KULT Online-- (7/28/2017 12:00:00 AM)

"Remarkably well informed and thoroughly researched, precise in any criticisms, and elegantly moving through a tremendous amount of work on the various topics, this is an important book for narrative theory and media studies alike."--Daniel Punday, author of Writing at the Limit: The Novel in the New Media Ecology

-- (9/15/2015 12:00:00 AM)

"The adage that 'narrative is everywhere' has always been in need of a theoretical frame and method for analysis, and Thon's carefully argued and well-researched book takes an important step toward such a genuinely transmedial narratology."--Karin Kukkonen, author of Contemporary Comics Storytelling
-- (10/28/2015 12:00:00 AM)

"The work is a meticulous survey of media and narratological scholarship, and one which seems a strong foundation upon which to establish future 'building blocks' of the transmedial narratology project."--Fiona Farnsworth, ImageTexT

"This book is a sustained and utterly convincing demonstration of transmedial narrative theory's ability to address the construction of twenty-first-century storyworlds in films, comics, and video games."--Jared Gardner, author of Projections: Comics and the History of Twenty-First-Century Storytelling

-- (9/15/2015 12:00:00 AM)

"This is a unique feat of narratology, deployed upon an impressive repertoire of contemporary media culture. There simply is no other book that so thoroughly and precisely develops the concept of transmediality."--Susana P. Tosca, coauthor of Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction-- (9/15/2015 12:00:00 AM)

"Thon successfully fills the gap of a foundation for transmedial narratology that is remarkable as much for its precise critical re-examination of established narratological terms and concepts as for its own clear terminology and conceptualizations that provide fertile ground for future research."--Michelle Herte, European Comic Art

"Thorough, well-grounded in prominent theory, and useful for scholars of contemporary media and narrative theory."--Erica McCrystal, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics

About the Author

Jan-Noël Thon is an assistant professor in media studies and digital media culture at the University of Nottingham, UK. He is the coeditor of a number of books on narrative and media studies, including Storyworlds across Media: Toward a Media-Conscious Narratology (Nebraska, 2014) and Subjectivity across Media: Interdisciplinary and Transmedial Perspectives.