Shang Biwu* and James Phelan Rhetorical Theory of Narrative and Contemporary Narrative Poetics: A Conversation with James Phelan https://doi.org/10.1515/fns-2019-0001 Abstract: In the summer of 2018, James Phelan co-organized the Summer Seminar on Narratology on behalf of Project Narrative at Ohio State University, in colla- boration with Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and the journal Frontiers of Narra- tive Studies. During this period, Shang Biwu, the editor of Frontiers of Narrative Studies, had a conversation with Phelan, who talked about important issues such as rhetorical poetics, fictionality, and narrative communication. Keywords: narratology, rhetorical theory of narrative, fictionality, narrative com- munication Shang Biwu: Brian McHale has commented that James Phelan’s work comes in at the meeting point of two strands of narrative studies that have been separated for too long. One is the formalist-structuralist strand, the other is the contexualist strand. In McHale’s view, your work brings the two strands together. How do you see your work doing that? James Phelan: I would answer in a couple of ways. One is that I am interested in understanding the elements of narrative along the lines I was talking about today: what is character, what is unreliable narration, and so on. Then I think the con- textualist strand comes in when we ask rhetorical questions that follow from de- fining narrative as somebody telling somebody else on some occasion and for some purposes that something happened. So, for example, how do we under- stand occasion? We need to understand history: this particular author at this par- ticular historical moment in this particular historical situation, thinking about a particular audience, also in that historical situation. So form in context: that’s the general way I would talk about the meeting point of the two strands. I think the *Corresponding author: Shang Biwu, English Department, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200204, China, E-Mail: biwushang@sjtu.edu.cn James Phelan, Project Narrative, Department of English, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, United States of America, E-Mail: phelan.1@osu.edu FNS 2019; 5(1): 1–10 Brought to you by | provisional account Unauthenticated Download Date | 1/8/20 11:31 AM