The Narrative texts they relate events, real or imaginary, carried out by one or more characters. The narrated events occur in a given space and time. For example: 1984 (novel written by George Orwell), Continuity of the parks (story written by Julio Cortázar) and Suicides at the end of the world (Chronicle written by Leila Guerriero).
Narrative texts usually have the following structure:
- Introduction. The story or events to be told are presented, in addition to exposing the conflict that will unleash a series of events.
- Development or knot. It is the most complex moment in history, in which the main events unfold.
- Outcome. The conflict raised in the introduction and that was developed in the node is resolved.
Characteristics of the narrative text
- The events are narrated from the vision of a narrator (who may or may not coincide with the author), who can tell the story in the first, second or third person.
- The story can be real or fictitious.
- Events unfold in a certain space and time.
- The number of characters can vary (there is no maximum limit) and they can be main, if they carry out events, or secondary, if they have less influence on the course of events.
- It has a specific purpose (to entertain, teach or inform).
- They have an internal structure (introduction, middle, end) and an external one (chapters, acts, sections, parts or volumes).
Types and examples of narrative texts
NOVEL
It is a real or fictional story written in prose, usually long, that has a development of some complexity and a varied number of characters. For example:
- Metamorphosisby Franz Kafka. Published in 1915, it tells the story of Gregorio Samsa, a cloth merchant who wakes up one morning turned into a huge insect. Throughout the story, the family drama that this transformation generates is also exposed.
- The man who loved the dogsby Leonardo Padura. In 2004, Iván, an aspiring writer from Havana, meets a mysterious man who was walking along the beach accompanied by his two Russian greyhounds. After a series of encounters, this man narrates the life of Ramón Mercader, the murderer of León Trotski. From these confidences, Iván begins to reconstruct the lives of both, and the story of how one becomes the executioner of the other. Both stories are intertwined with the life of intellectuals in contemporary Cuba. This novel was published in 2009.
STORY
It is a short story, with few characters and a simple plot. For example:
- The Tell-Tale Heart, by Edgar Allan Poe. Published in 1843, the story presents a narrator obsessed with the diseased eye of the man he lives with, whom he finally decides to kill. After committing the crime, he tears up and hides the corpse under the boards of the wooden floor of his house. When the police show up on the scene, the murderer ends up confessing the truth, after hallucinating with the old man’s heart beating under the floor.
- The cutthroat henby Horacio Quiroga. It tells the story of four brothers who are mentally retarded and all they know how to do is imitate. One day, the Mazzini – Ferraz couple conceives a healthy girl, who receives all the attention and dedication from her parents. Once, after watching the cook slaughter a hen, the four brothers find the little girl alone and make her go to the kitchen, where they slaughter her. The father sees the dramatic scene, and tries to prevent his wife from entering the kitchen. Seeing the blood on the ground, the woman understands what happened. This account was published in 1917 in the book Tales of love, madness and death.
LEGEND
They are narratives that combine supernatural events with real events. These stories are passed down from generation to generation and are part of a certain culture. For example:
- Legend of Aka Manto. This Japanese story tells the story of the ghost of a woman who lives in the last cubicle of the public baths in the city of Aka Manto. According to legend, the ghost appears to young women who use that last toilet and kills them to avenge their death. The purpose of the story is to scare the women so that they will not go to the public baths alone.
- Legend of the Mojana. According to this Colombian story, the Mojana is a diminutive woman who kidnaps the children who roam her dominions. This woman with long golden hair lives under water, in a stone house. To protect children from your actions, you must tie them with a cord.
CHRONICLE
It is a journalistic text that respects the temporal order of events in order to tell a story. For example:
- The city of widows. In India, being a widow is a curse. Many widows end up living in the city of Vrindavan. Argentine journalist Martín Caparrós makes a detailed chronicle of what that city is like.
- The song of Claudia. At just 11 years old, Claudia knows that, had it not been for her father being killed by a bomb, she would not have been able to meet the singer Juanes, her idol. The story takes place in 2006, in Cocorná, a town near Medellín, a year after the singer started the Mi Sangre foundation, to assist the victims of the Colombian antipersonnel mines. Colombian journalist Alberto Salcedo Ramos tells the details of the meeting.
BIOGRAPHY
It is a story about the life and work of a relevant person, in which the most remarkable moments of his life prevail.
- His life and his universe. The author of this text, Walter Isaacson, had access to Einstein’s archives, where his private correspondence is located. Thanks to this file, the author provides an account of the character and his time, as well as a detailed portrait of his private life. Einstein’s success was tied to his questioning about accepted truths and his ability to not lose his astonishment.
- Churchill, a biography. Its author, Andrew Roberts, used a series of documents never before consulted to narrate, in detail, the human face of Churchill. Throughout the pages, the politician’s life is portrayed from his childhood to his decline.