认知叙事学视野中的叙事理解

A Cognitive Narratological Approach to Narrative Processing

与修辞叙事学强调研究叙事对读者产生的阅读效果不同,认知叙事学重点研究读者理解叙事的认知过程,关注"叙事结构和叙事技巧如何对读者产生意义"这一问题,从格式塔心理学发展而来的图式理论为实现这个研究目标提供了很好的研究基础。认知叙事学使用图式理论相关资源来研究"故事图式"、"叙事理解中的图式层级结构和类别",并超越静态的图式理论,将该理论用于分析叙事理解的动态认知过程,产生了诸如"映射"、"心理空间"、"语境框架"、"文本世界"等理论和概念。认知叙事学在国内学界尚属起步阶段,笔者希望本文在厘清相关概念的同时,亦能激发国内学界对认知叙事学的研究兴趣。

Unlike rhetorical narrative theory centering on the effects of the narrative on the reader, cognitive narratology mainly concerns the reader＇ s cognitive process in understanding the narrative, i.e. how narrative structure and techniques make sense to the reader. Schema theory developed from the Gestalt Psychology provides a very good starting point for cognitive narratology to achieve this goal. Borrowing the theoretical resources from schema theory, cognitive narratology has put forward such concepts as ＂story schema＂, ＂schema structure and categories in narrative process- ing＂ and moved beyond the static schema theory into analyzing the dynamic cognitive process of narrative reading, creating terms and theories like ＂cognitive mapping＂, ＂mental space＂, ＂contextual frame＂ and ＂text world theory＂, to mention only a few. Cognitive narratology has just started in China, and we expect the present article to help differentiate the related concepts and theories and arouse the interest in cognitive narratology in domestic academia.