TY - JOUR

T1 - Narrative and ontology in Hesiod's Homeric Hymn to Demeter

T2 - a catastrophist approach

AU - Carney, James

PY - 2007/11

Y1 - 2007/11

N2 - This article develops a model of narrative reference by showing that the organization of meaning in narrative is congruent with the structure of space and time. In making this connection, the article's principal methodological tool is mathematical catastrophe theory. Specifically, it is shown that narratives like Hesiod's Homeric Hymn to Demeter can be construed as hypersurfaces that permit a number of critical transformations between stable regions of thematic value. It is argued that this approach is superior to cognitivist theories of reference because it avoids the vicious circle of displacing the referential function of narrative on to psychic schemas that have themselves a narrative structure.

AB - This article develops a model of narrative reference by showing that the organization of meaning in narrative is congruent with the structure of space and time. In making this connection, the article's principal methodological tool is mathematical catastrophe theory. Specifically, it is shown that narratives like Hesiod's Homeric Hymn to Demeter can be construed as hypersurfaces that permit a number of critical transformations between stable regions of thematic value. It is argued that this approach is superior to cognitivist theories of reference because it avoids the vicious circle of displacing the referential function of narrative on to psychic schemas that have themselves a narrative structure.

U2 - 10.1515/SEM.2007.082

DO - 10.1515/SEM.2007.082

M3 - Journal article

VL - 2007

SP - 337

EP - 368

JO - Semiotica

JF - Semiotica

SN - 0037-1998

IS - 167

ER -