Greetings from the Hermit WRiter.
I used the terms narrative and exposition in a recent
conversation. My dialogee asked me the difference. Duh. I thought I understood
it. After extensive reading, like over an hour, dude, I decided there wasn't
much difference. Narrative is simply a larger pool, containing exposition,
which is to explain. So, I guess narrative is the over-arcing story, while the
exposition is that part that is more informative. Does that sound good?
Narrative exposition is
the insertion of important background information within a story;
for example, information about the setting, characters' backstories,
prior plot events, historical context, etc.[1]
In a specifically
literary context, exposition appears in the form of expository writing embedded within the narrative.
Exposition is one of
four rhetorical modes (also known as modes of discourse),
along with description, argumentation, and narration, as elucidated by Alexander Bain and John Genung.[2]
Each of the
rhetorical modes is present in a variety of forms, and each has its own purpose
and conventions. There are several ways to
accomplish exposition.
Pasted
from <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposition_(narrative)>
Like you, I vaguely thought there was a difference, but if asked to explain might well have to concede that there's not much – though I on't think all exposition is neccesarily narrative (it could be dialogue) and not all narrative is exposition – it could be character development, or description.
ReplyDelete