Open research questions in Narrative Theory and Analysis
31 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 2,402 Narrative Theory and Analysis papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.
What the literature leaves open
This report's limitations are not incidental; they define its status. n = 2: two scenes cannot validate a measure. Single rater: no inter-rater agreement exists yet. Judgment-dependent coding: several categories rest on the rater's judgment and are not yet shown to be reproducible. Unresolved dimensional problem: the formula is not yet dimensionally clean. Assumed reading rate: Scene B's score depends on an unverified WPM assumption. Selection: the two scenes were chosen by the author to contrast on specific dimensions; they are not a random sample of narrative texts. Stating these plainly is the point. A pilot that concealed them would be less useful, not more.
Operationalizing Narrative Entropy (Sn): A Two-Scene Registered Pilot Report and Pre-Validation Protocol · 2026 · DOIFuture research could explore the application of UFTNA to these diverse narra- tive forms, potentially extending its scope to a more general theory of semiotic production and reception.
Toward a Unified Field Theory of Narrative Agency: Reconstructing the Conceptual Foundations of Literary Ontologies · 2026 · DOISince our cognitive capacities for creating representations and drawing inferences involve the same processes for cognizing fiction and for mapping the real world, appealing to conventions is a hasty answer underneath which are hidden certain facts about human cognition: that in both cases the constructs tend to be similarly illusory and incoherent and that cognition itself tends to be messy and limited to the most important tasks at hand, guided by a narrowly understood practicality.
It favors exploring new relationships and identity positions, by breaking away, temporarily, from human-made, hierarchical systems of relationships, built on comparison, copying and competition, and by inviting experimentation and discovery of the ‘not yet known’ in a hierarchy flat, immersive, horizontally flowing process.
Abstract Although Christopher Nolan’s Memento (2000) has been the subject of numerous critical examinations, the unique manner in which the film’s reverse-chronological dramaturgy interweaves the spectators’ cognitive-analytical attempts to ensure causal-linear coherency together with a corporal-affective sensation of temporal loss remains underexplored.
On the other hand, numerous conversations at conferences and other anecdotal sources hint that the impact of budget cuts, the lack of evidence of effectiveness, and the time and resource intensive nature of the PDS might be leading toward stagnation or even decline.
Finding Meaning in PDS Stories · 2010This and maybe other objective the importance between that of the process of the action by duration, actions into account feature to the result of an action tenses, and for perfective of taking the probability probability is partly determined features we have not investigated.
Little is known, however, about how children’s comprehension of events relates to their interpretation of higher-level meanings, such as event causality and character development, which children’s films often convey through complex narrative strategies.
Children’s comprehension of time and their interpretation of event relations in narrative film: the tangled case of flashbacks · 2025 · DOIBy filling in the gaps in the literature, this work advances knowledge about the multifaceted role manga plays in narrating historical events and capturing readers' attention through a dual-channel cognitive process.
Exploring the Themes of Horrors of The War, Power and Hegemony in The Manga “Barefoot Gen Vol. 1” in the Light of Dual Coding Theory · 2024 · DOIAbstract Thus far, few studies have investigated the evaluative points narrators may convey through the sequential features of reported exchanges in their stories.
The second part argues that a Foucauldian genealogical approach to these stories is insufficient: necropolitical archives, when they testify to the work of power, remain incomplete at best and actively erase more often.
The presence of Derrida in the text is scarcely visible; yet it is Derrida, in dialogue with the late Ricoeur, that show us the way out from the autobiographical and identitary trap.
The paper concludes that storytelling, far from being an embarrassment to New Area Studies, should be at the heart of its methodology and should be further examined in order to tell new stories and to tell them well.
While the sensemaking literature includes multiple studies of stories and storytelling, no studies have explicitly examined the role of canonical stories in sensemaking.
In the communal presentation of family narratives, territories of knowledge merge, shared events are illuminated from separate perspectives, gaps in knowledge are filled, and evaluations are enriched.
Perhaps due to Bolan’s own output being thus far relatively under-researched, Bowie’s relationship with him has also, until now, not been explored in scholarly depth.
‘Oh man, I need TV when I got T. Rex’: Bowie and Bolan’s otherworldly carnivalesque intermediality · 2019 · DOIIn the concluding part, some open questions in Tengelyi’s account of selfhood are addressed, such as the retrospective character of the narrative, the notion of action as adventure, and the role of the ethics of alterity in the philosophical analysis of personal identity.
But the archetype remains controversial as an explanation of recurrent motifs, as the existence of recurrent motifs does not prove that archetypes exist.
Recurrent motifs as resonant attractor states in the narrative field: a testable model of archetype · 2013 · DOIIf the movement is growing despite a lack of strong research and theory, then we need to determine whether the growth is warranted or provides a strong evidential basis for continued support at a time of shrinking resources.
Finding Meaning in PDS Stories · 2010Scholes and Kellogg draw on their vast knowledge of Western literature to argue that the history of narrative is a long one and should not be limited to the study of that very recent invention, the novel.
We propose that, similarly to what is done in other social and human sciences, conversational studies ought to take into consideration the description of events that are not fully known at the onset of narration and that are partially or entirely suggested by the narrators.
In this article, I draw on material from an interview in which the presence of contradictory data had surprising results, initially producing shock, but subsequently causing me to reflect on the ‘meaning’ inherent in these lapses of coherence.
1 Though frequently assertedindeed it is something of a critical clich6 in some circles-this doctrine has to my knowledge rarely been examined in depth or pursued for nuance.
Narrative uses temporal order to organize information about events and to foster their understanding but is insufficiently systematic to substitute for sociological explanation.
If mythologizing disposition to find a timeless meaning in tales is insufficient, so too is assumption that Natty is a mimesis of a particular person.
Most-cited papers in Narrative Theory and Analysis
- Narrative, Event-Structure Analysis, and Causal Interpretation in Historical Sociology · American Journal of Sociology · 1993 · 289 citations
- Narrative and the Real World: An Argument for Continuity · History and Theory · 1986 · 130 citations
- Critical Narrative Inquiry: An Examination of a Methodological Approach · International Journal of Qualitative Methods · 2022 · 83 citations
- Doing narrative analysis from a narratives-as-practices perspective · Narrative Inquiry · 2020 · 81 citations
- What's in a Story? The Relationship Between Narrative Completeness and Adjustment to Relationship Dissolution · Journal of Social and Personal Relationships · 2003 · 58 citations
- Interpretation in History · New Literary History · 1973 · 50 citations
- Unreliable narrators? ‘Inconsistency’ (and some inconstancy) in interviews · Qualitative Research · 2006 · 42 citations
- Introducing ‘Narrative in Critical Discourse Studies’ · Critical Discourse Studies · 2021 · 40 citations
- Futures literacy through narrative · Futures · 2020 · 38 citations
- The Narrative Dimensions Model and an exploration of various narrative genres · Narrative Inquiry · 2020 · 37 citations
Most recent work
- Narrative Inquiry · Narrative Inquiry · 2026
- Operationalizing Narrative Entropy (Sn): A Two-Scene Registered Pilot Report and Pre-Validation Protocol · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
- Who tells the policy story? Exploring the citizen policy narrative framework and feedback mechanisms in China’s healthcare reform · Policy Sciences · 2026
- Chronotope transformation as a reflection of the evolution of the author’s artistic concept (based on R. Zelazny’s “The Chronicles of Amber” series) · Philology. Theory & Practice · 2026
- Narrative Stratification and Translevel Conflict in the Film Interstellar · Communications in Humanities Research · 2026
- Beyond the Five Pillars: A Relational Ontology of Narrative through Plot, Voice, Persona, Temporality, and Spatiality · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
- Toward a Unified Field Theory of Narrative Agency: Reconstructing the Conceptual Foundations of Literary Ontologies · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026
- Storybook Futures: A Public Installation for Speculative Narrative Exploration · 2026
- Tempus mutans: Temporal change in the crafting styles of forced migrants’ narratives about host societies · Narrative Inquiry · 2026
- Book review: Narrative Theory in Journalistic Practice: Understanding Emerging Digital Genres · Nordicom review/NORDICOM review · 2026
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