Unlikely Stories: Causality and the Nature of Modern Narrative

Unlikely Stories is the first book-length study of the full range of causal issues in narrative, and explores the neglected question of just what brings about events in a fictional text. This book focuses on causality as a foundational element of all narratives, and as a distinguishing feature of many of the most compelling works of distinctively modern fiction and drama. Richardson draws on a wide range of literary texts: seminal ancient and early modern works, the classics of high modernism, and numerous avant-garde and postmodern pieces, as well as narratives by recent postcolonial and U.S. ethnic authors.