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Volume 11, Issue 2
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Abstract

Abstract

Critics reading narratives as progressions, that’s to say, from beginning to end, prefer to see meaning emerge as a result of the interaction between different elements in the narrative, rather than of the imposition of a priori cultural schemata. This article, however, argues for the possibility of using a priori cultural schemata, as long as these pass through the filters established by theories of narrative progression. To show how this is done, I will interpret Frank Miller’s comic by letting a tool of cultural-semantic analysis interact with narrative tension in the form of suspense, curiosity, and surprise. I argue that the back and forth between narrative tension and the tool accounts not only for the content of the comic but also for its basic narrative rhythm.

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2018-10-19
2020-07-08

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The rhythms of narrative tension and its cultural satisfaction
English Text Construction 11, 169 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1075/etc.00008.can
/content/journals/10.1075/etc.00008.can
/content/journals/10.1075/etc.00008.can
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): 300 , cultural-semantic tool , Frank Miller , modality , narrative progression , narrative rhythm and narrative tension

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