Blackwell Publishing has issued the Companion to Narrative Theory, co-edited by James Phelan (Ohio State University) and Hamilton Professor of Comparative Literature Peter J. Rabinowitz. The massive anthology includes 35 original essays by leading narrative theorists from the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and offers a comprehensive and global view of the state of the discipline at the beginning of the 21st century, covering not only literary narrative, but also narrative in other mediums and other fields.
Besides co-editing the collection and co-authoring the introduction with Phelan, Rabinowitz has contributed an essay titled "They Shoot Tigers, Don't They?: Path and Counterpoint in The Long Goodbye," which offers a new way of thinking about the temporal relations between narrative events. In addition, the book includes a chapter by Associate Professor of English Catherine Gunther Kodat, "I'm Spartacus!," which examines the relationship between freedom and determination as figured in the many narratives of Spartacus (from Sallust's Historiae to the Spartacus International Gay Guide).
