How does a story’s frame affect how we read it? What power does a storyteller have over how we interpret narratives and create meaning? How do we understand “truth” in the context of fictional stories? In this course, we will explore the power dynamics of frame narratives, or stories within stories. We will consider how multiple storytellers and levels of narration affect our understanding of “truth” in fiction, as well as our own role and responsibility as readers to uncover narrative truth. Our readings will include story cycles, standalone stories with competing narrators, stories that include “found” manuscripts, and narratives with temporal frames. We will also consider how authors and critics attempted to frame literary works and control how they were interpreted or read. In all of our works, we will pay particular attention to the power dynamics and ethics of framing. Our close readings of literary works will be informed by theoretical texts on framing and discussions of framing in works of art
- Subject
- CLRS BC
- Credits (min)
- 3
- Credits (max)
- 3
- Credit unit
- points
- Type
- course
- Edition
- 2026
- Source
- catalog.barnard.edu