Towards a Critical Ethical Narratology

Narratives in general and the postmodern, hybrid genre of literary non-fiction in particular supply the ideas that delineate the important themes of our culture. Vehicles of knowledge, values, and beliefs, works of literary non-fiction formulate philosophical themes, define what we consider to be existential problems, and construct our cultural worldmodels. This study analyzes value construction in literary non-fiction in different types of media: literary non-fiction novel, photo narrative, graphic novel, hypertext. Critical Ethical Narratology (CEN) is an analytical framework specifically designed for shedding light on the worldmaking potential of literary non-fiction. CEN is a valuable tool for researchers who want to keep both the normative function of ways of worldmaking and the conditions of mediality that shape cultural world-construction firmly in view. CEN is able to address not only many of the pressing questions that an ethical or critical analysis alone could not resolve, but it also enables scholars to work independently of a conception of narratology that privileges either form or content.