Making Sense of Narrative Text

This book offers a deep dive into the mechanics of how we understand stories, using tools from stylistics, corpus linguistics, and cognitive science to answer a fundamental question: What must a reader actually do to comprehend a literary narrative? Toolan meticulously examines the grammatical and lexical patterns that form the texture of fiction, moving beyond surface-level analysis to explore the subconscious cognitive processes involved in reading. It’s a rigorous study for anyone who wants to move from simply enjoying a story to understanding the linguistic architecture that makes it work, re-examining the very building blocks of narrative sense-making.

What sets this work apart is its synthesis of narratological theory with practical, text-focused analysis, drawing on influential concepts from Hoey, Werth, and Emmott. Readers with a background in linguistics or literary theory will find it particularly rewarding, as it provides a sophisticated toolkit for deconstructing how fictional worlds are built and understood through language. The result is a compelling read that fundamentally changes how you perceive the act of reading itself, empowering you with a more conscious and analytical approach to narrative text.