Story Logic

“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’ because they constitute a powerful instrument for understanding the world. . . . . Herman has originally and successfully applied basic concepts and tools of linguistic analysis to the study of literary narrative. . . . I believe that many aspects of the narrative analyses proposed in the volume, such as Herman’s ideas about space, time, and action, can help linguists develop new insights about the ways in which different kinds of narratives construct meaning.”—Language in Society