A Semantically-Based Computational Approach to Narrative Structure

Rodolfo Delmonte, Giulia Marchesini
2017 International Conference on Computational Semantics  
In this paper we will define narrative structure as characterized by a basic element, the narreme, which is here described as the basic unit of narrative structure, the smallest possible unit of the story. We annotated a full novel -"The Solid Mandala" (1966) by Nobel laureate Patrick White -combining two approaches: one is related to sentiment and opinion mining, including deeper aspects connected to event factuality and subjectivity, and the other focuses on evaluative features derived from
more » ... e Appraisal Theory framework. After characterizing the style, we will show the main significant events of the plot as they emerge from the distribution of deep semantic features. Narreme boundaries will be identified by presence of specific speech acts, change of point of view, and movement in spatio-temporal coordinates through flashbacks. An experiment with our system of text understanding, GETARUNS, has been carried out to test its ability to automatically identify narremes. Introduction According to Collier (1992) (hence GC92) Patrick White characterizes the plot of his books through the use of deep linguistic features: in particular, an accurate choice of words, syntactic structures, and semantic features is used to highlight specific portions of the role of each character in the narrative depending strictly on his/her personality traits and on the structure of the story. White's style remains always the same for all characters and sequences of events, but it varies its qualifying linguistic elements according to the point of view, to the events in the lives of the characters, and to the relationships in the storyline portrayed in the novel. In order to make our narratological approach more transparent, we will here provide a brief summary of the main theme of "The Solid Mandala". Our novel tells the story of the life of twins Arthur and Waldo Brown, of their family, and of their neighbour, Mrs Poulter, all living in a suburb of Sydney. Waldo Brown is an appropriate example of many other important characters of Patrick White's novels, as well. He is the representative of the intellectual who failed to become an artist or even to accomplish anything of significance, ending up being a simple clerk in a municipal library. His life is empty of events and positive emotions. He is educated and despises his community, which he considers too uninteresting and uncultured for him to be a part of. This voluntary isolation translates in a general growing resentment and in open hostility towards his twin brother, who is completely different from him and yet always a constant in his life. Arthur and Waldo could not be more diametrically opposed. This opposition is specifically crafted to portray and therefore study two basic drives: intellect and intuition. We find in Waldo every characteristic of the academic individual driven by intellect, as we said before; in Arthur, instead, there is a more "feminine" intuition which is often painted as direct result of his weak wits. Contrary to his brother, Arthur is far from studious and clever: it is often difficult to understand him even from his point of view, and this does not seem to hold particular meaning for him. He has difficulty speaking and expressing himself, even though some of his thoughts are deeper and more significant than Waldo's. He loves others, even and mostly the brother who despises him and considers him an handicap. Most of all, he is completely, almost unbelievably good, always humble and helpful in his simple way of living.
dblp:conf/iwcs/DelmonteM17 fatcat:kfo5oovxuvf6pcwopkuheyv6pq