A Study Of Plot In The Perspective Of Narratology

Plot, with a long history, is a fundamental problem of the narrative style. Why does it become a problem? The reason and focus is the concept, the status and evaluation of plot. What is plot? Why has it become the nuclear factor of narratology while it has also been insignificant thus it has been devaluated? How to evaluate plot from the aspects of author, text and reading? Plot is not as clear as it seems to be; it has never been a static category. To make clear the definition of plot in each stage and the relationship between plot and the literary thoughts in each period and to remold the history of its development, are not only good for clarification of the definition and concept of plot but also significant to further the study on the related literary field.This thesis attempts to make clear the historical thread of the development of plot, clarify the main views and characteristics of plot in different periods chronologically. And it also attempts to differentiate the variation and inheriting of views about plot, stipulate the historical track of its development, and perceive or counter-prove the influence literary thoughts have exerted on views about plot. The thesis attempts to comb and summarize the history of the novel plot study, and trace it to the source, differentiate and analyse its evolution in the eyes of narratology in order to recur the history and the present situation of plot study in the form of history.Based on above analysis, we could compare the eastern and western views about plot, analyze the similarities and differences between them. The conclusion drawn from above analysis could be adopted to examine theweakening of plot in modern novels, and to read some problems in the narrative style nowadays.The thesis mainly discusses the narratology's ancient source (Aristotle's theory of plot in Poetics), classical/traditional ideas of plot, the plot study of literature theory of form-structure and the plot study ot new narratologies, etc.