Merlin's Definition of "Narrative"

OK, I have decided that I think I can do this best and stick to the point better if I do it quickly so I am doing it as I take a break from packing to go to my parents for Thanksgiving. This is the post I have talked about a lot, on my definition of "Narrative," how the Star Wars prequels were the catalyst for modifying it and how these concerns apply to criticisms of book 5 in the Harry Potter series, "Order of the Phoenix". My Original Definition of "Narrative": At first my definition of narrative was "a chronology of kairotic moments," and of course I am going to have explain these Greek terms. Chronos: Chronos is, in short, "clock time." It is the strictly linear and systematic/regulated succession of events in what is often referred to as "real time." It is mundane and tedious, including every single tick of the second-hand. Kairos: "Kairos" is "special time." It literally means, "the appointed time or season." It is used of the harvest festivals in and other religiously highly significant days and feasts in Judaism, and this meaning can perhaps best be seen in Galatians 4:10, "You observe, days and months and times." This concept is the same as that in the thought of the Hebrew word "MeODE" - "appointed season." In fact, in the Septuagint, the Greek Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, circa 300 BC, in the text of Genesis 1:14 this Hebrew word is translated by the Greek word "chairos" (In many English versions it is translated, "seasons," but the meaning is special religious "seasons.") It really means a particularly special time that is "full" or pregnant with meaning. This is the sense in which the word is used in Ephesians 1:10, "A plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth." And this is also what a symbol is, a physical object or a particular character etc. that is full of a meaning that comes from something larger than itself but comes through a connection by virtue of some quality it possesses intrinsically (cf Granger.) A Chronology of Kairotic Moments Thus, a "chronology of kairotic moments" is a chronology or a timeline of events (ie a "plot," which is the translation of Aristotle's use of the word "mythos"), but not a chronology based in the mundane details of "clock time," but rather based in a succession of moments and events that are pregnant with symbolic meaning. The Star Wars Prequels During a discussion of the prequels with my friend Dominic it occurred to me that the prequels which we had been lamenting as badly plotted, also fit my definition. Especially the visual icons as symbolic as well as more "static" elements fit my definition. The problem was that, while each was powerful in and of itself, Lucas had simply strung them together loosely and haphazardly. It could not be denied, however, that the films' plots were "chronologies of kairotic moments." A New Definition Thus I modified my definition of "narrative" to, "a kairotic chronology." The difference is that in this definition it is not simply the moments or elements which are constitutive parts of the chronology that are chairotic; but the very manner of the movement of the chronology, the way the plot flows, is itself chairotic. The Order of the Phoenix: The discussion of criticisms of book 5 actually help (at least for me) to get a better picture of this new definition. Some (such as Julie) have criticized the book as being the weakest individual book of the series whereas I have found in it instances of powerful and very unique, and well timed developments of central themes and symbols crucial to the meaning of the whole story of the 7 book series. However, I could also not deny the ring of truth to Julie's statements of weakness in the book as an individual work. I believe it to be the case that with each book in the series there are indeed 2 plots involved. The first is the plot of the book as a self-contained narrative; and it is on this level that it seemed to me that Julie's criticisms were possibly very just. At the same time it was possible for the timing of the thematic/symbolic developments in the plot of the 7 book series as a whole (the second plot involved in each book) to be very good and well-timed. Simply because the latter (the "series plot development") is good does not mean that the former (the "individual, self-contained-work plot") is not weak.