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Article published In:
Real Fictions: Fictionality, factuality and narrative strategies in contemporary storytelling
Edited by Sam Browse, Alison Gibbons and Mari Hatavara
[Narrative Inquiry 29:2] 2019
► pp. 352–370

The rhetoric of factuality in narrative

Appeals to authority in Claas Relotius’s feature journalism

| Tampere University
The article presents a method for studying the factuality of narrative as a rhetoric. The need for such a method is apparent in the so-called post-truth climate, which sees us witnessing debates about semantic chimeras like “alternative facts” and “fake news.” The article arrives at its method by tackling challenges arising both in narrative theory and in fictionality studies. This involves developing models that let us take into account both the effects of local discursive features and the “macrogeneric” and “generic” frames guiding expectations about how communication is meant to work. The method is used in analysis of one of the controversial stories by the journalist Claas Relotius, who is currently being investigated in the forgery scandal of the magazine Der Spiegel.
Keywords: factuality, narrative, fictionality, macrogeneric frames, discourse functions, feature journalism
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • What we analyze when we analyze narrative
  • Focus on doing – Current theoretical approaches to narrative and fictionality
  • Rhetoric of factuality
  • Narrative factuality, generic frames and rhetorical devices: The case of feature journalism
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 16 October 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.19024.bjo
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