French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Leiduan, Critique de la raison narrative. Le récit dans l'ère digitale
Literary Theory, Linguistics and Stylistics
Alessandro Leiduan
Critique de la raison narrative
Le récit dans l'ère digitale
éd. Ovadia
Published: 20-01-2021
EAN: 9782363924308 — 244 p.
Narratologists have carved out an exceptional research domain for themselves: the study of narrative in all its conceivable variants. The scope of this field is virtually limitless, as it encompasses both factual narratives (such as historiographical or journalistic accounts) and fictional narratives in all their forms—ranging from the timeless fictions of the classical literary heritage to the latest experiments in digital transmedia imagination. Because storytelling is a universal phenomenon, found across every geographical and historical latitude, the academic discipline dedicated to its study, narratology, could have exerted a powerful gravitational pull on all other academic fields working with narrative or paranarrative corpuses, providing them with reliable and effective methodological tools to explore the intricacies of the narrative "cosmos" mapped out by the texts under examination.
Today, the fictional imagination is no longer what it used to be. The digital revolution has turned everything upside down, and so has capitalism. Long confined to a single medium, fictions no longer necessarily hold the status of "unique works"; increasingly, they form transmedia constellations revolving around a core seminal idea (a character, a storyline, etc.) that migrates from one medium to another, and sometimes from one genre to another, driven by an expressive regime based on a blend of codes, languages, and imaginative practices (transmedia storytelling). Faced with this new reality, we could have chosen to retreat into the ivory tower of our anachronistic certainties and continue discussing fiction as if its current form were no different from that of the past. Alternatively, we could have chosen to glorify the new faces of fiction by bending our descriptive categories to fit the nature of its latest avatars. We have chosen an entirely different path: to problematize the meaning of fiction and, along with it, the meaning of the discipline dedicated to its study—narratology.
In this thoughtful study, Alessandro Leiduan investigates how contemporary digital culture and capitalism have reshaped the traditional boundaries of storytelling. As narratives increasingly migrate across multiple platforms and mediums—forming interconnected constellations rather than isolated works—the academic discipline of narratology faces unprecedented methodological challenges. Rather than retreating into classical formalism or uncritically embracing every new media avatar, the author seeks to critically rethink the very foundations of narrative reason in an era defined by transmedia imagination and new expressive regimes.
This timely volume will appeal to literary scholars, media theorists, and students of modern culture who wish to understand the evolving status of fiction in the digital age. By questioning how classical categories can address contemporary practices, the book provides essential conceptual tools for navigating the complex cosmos of modern narratives. It serves as a valuable resource for anyone seeking a rigorous, reflective approach to the intersection of traditional literary studies, digital media, and contemporary philosophical inquiry into the nature of storytelling.