Short answers, pulled from the story.
A narrative is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether nonfictional (such as memoir, biography, or news report) or fictional (such as fairy tale, novel, or legend). It is distinct from a simple description because it requires connected events rather than a static account of qualities or states. Narratives can be presented through written or spoken words, still or moving images, or any combination of these.
The basic elements of narrative include character, conflict, narrative mode, plot, setting, and theme. Characters are individuals whose choices propel the plot; conflict is the central tension driving the story; plot is the cause-and-effect sequence of events; setting is the time, place, and cultural context; and theme comprises the major underlying ideas left open to audience interpretation.
Anthropologist Sir James Frazer and scholar Janet Bacon distinguished three categories. Myths have an explanatory intention, addressing natural phenomena or forgotten rituals. Legends are grounded in real people or real places, with figures like Agamemnon or King Arthur cited as examples. Folktales call for no belief, are wholly products of the imagination, and exist primarily to entertain.
Vladimir Propp analyzed the plots used in traditional folk-tales and identified 31 distinct functional components within them. His work was part of the Russian Formalism movement and became foundational to the structural analysis of narrative, influencing later scholars including those of the Prague School and French theorists such as Claude Levi-Strauss and Roland Barthes.
Illness narratives are accounts that people affected by illness construct to make sense of their experiences. Researchers have identified three main types: the restitution narrative, in which illness is treated as a temporary detour toward restored health; the chaos narrative, in which illness is seen as a permanent worsening state with no hope of recovery, typical of conditions like Alzheimer's disease; and the quest narrative, which frames illness as an opportunity for spiritual and psychological transformation, a pattern associated with breast cancer survivorship culture.
Narratology is the formal academic study of stories and storytelling. Key figures include Victor Shklovsky, who analyzed the relationship between composition and style in the Russian Formalism tradition; Vladimir Propp, who identified 31 structural components in folk-tales; and Claude Levi-Strauss and Roland Barthes, who continued structural analysis of narrative in the French scholarly tradition. Owen Flanagan of Duke University contributed to understanding narrative's role in human identity and consciousness.