Since its first publication in English in 1985, Mieke Bal's Narratology has become an international classic and the comprehensive introduction to the theory of narrative texts, both literary and non-literary. Providing insights into how readers interpret narrative text, the fifth edition of Narratology is a guide for students and scholars seeking to analyze narratives of any language, period, and region with clear, systematic, and reliable concepts.

Through engagements with the most recent scholarship in the field, an updated preface, and new and revised examples and graphics, award-winning cultural theorist Mieke Bal presents narrative concepts with even greater clarity in this fifth edition. This introduction to narratology aims at presenting a systematic account of a theory of narrative for use in the study of literary and other narrative texts. Bal opts for a systematic, and hence selective, approach to teaching the discipline. She does so to augment the text’s accessibility, amplify the possibility of dialogue, and emancipate learners from intimidation.

Incorporating years of feedback from scholars and teachers, Narratology remains the most important contribution to the study of the way narratives work, are formed, and are received.

Mieke Bal is an award-winning cultural theorist and video artist, and has been a professor in literary theory at the University of Amsterdam.