Theme 7: 4th Gospel in Light of Narrative Analysis

Question 1

7.1.1. What is the object of study in narrative analysis?

Answer 1

The FORM of the NARRATION

how the content is laid out, that is, the progression of the narrated actions

Question 2

7.1.2. What is meant respectively by “story” and “account/narrative”?

Answer 2

“STORY” = the events that are narrated.

“ACCOUNT/NARRATIVE” = the narration of the events, placed in order in a discourse.

Question 3

7.1.3. What does mythos mean in Greek?

Answer 3

NARRATIVE (racconto)

Question 4

7.2. In what way is narrative analysis differentiated from the study of the structure?

Answer 4

1) narrative analysis shows how the narration (recounting) of the events unfolds, or, in other words, the progression of the narration
2. the study of the structure is concerned with the static links between the actions that make up the account, without considering the progression or movement between those actions

Question 5

7.3.1. What are the 4 principal elements of an account according to Aristotle?

Answer 5

1. the trama (the plot / events and actions)
2. CHARACTERS (express the moral depth of the subjects who act) (ethos)
3. REASONING (thought, message, dianoia)
4. the poetic language (lexis) with which 3. is expressed

Question 6

7.3.2. Which of the 4 Principle Elements are the most important?

Answer 6

the TRAMA

the CHARACTERS

Question 7

7.4.1. What is the trama (or intreccio = plot)?

Answer 7

the composition of the actions that are recounted, which confers the meaning of the narrative

Question 8

7.4.2. How is the trama denominated by Aristotle?

Answer 8

either “simple” or “complex”

simple = no reversal of fortune

complex = reversal of fortune

Question 9

7.5.1. What parts (not from the elements in question 7.3.1) can be distinguished in the trama of an narrative?

Answer 9

1. beginning
2. middle or central part
3. ending or conclusion

Question 10

7.5.2. Which of these parts offers the key for understanding the text?

Answer 10

conclusion

Question 11

7.6. What and how many changes are possible in a trama?

Answer 11

there are 3 possible changes, 2 in the trama of the situation (from happiness to unhappiness, or from unhappiness to happiness) and 1 in the trama of knowledge (from un-knowing to knowing)

Question 12

7.7. In what does the peripeteia or “resolution” consist?

Answer 12

peripeteia = sudden change

This is the reversal or overturning, and it consists in the passage from happiness to unhappiness, or vice versa

Question 13

7.8. In what does the anagnorisis or “revelation” consist?

Answer 13

the passage from un-knowing to knowing

Question 14

7.9. Is the trama of Jn a trama of resolution or revelation?

Answer 14

the trama of Jn is one of revelation (knowledge)

there is a passage from not knowing that Jesus is the Son of God in the strict sense (i.e., the divine Son) to knowing it

Question 15

7.10 – What characteristic of the vocabulary of Jn demonstrates that?

Answer 15

the verbs that are used:

to SEE (Jn 20:29), 
to KNOW (sapere, Jn 21:12), 
to KNOW (conoscere, Jn 4:10), 
to MAKE to KNOW (far conoscere, Jn 17:26)