Genette's discourse on narrative is the most theoretically demanding, balanced, and coherent, yet also a highly practical theory of literary narration, making it a study book in the best sense of the word. This work, as Jonathan Culler writes, is invaluable because it meets the urgent need for a systematic theory of narrative. As the most thorough attempt to analyze, name, and illustrate the foundations and techniques of literary storytelling to date, it will become indispensable for anyone engaging with narrative literature. Here, readers will not only find terms for many aspects they have noticed while reading novels; their attention will also be directed to structures and techniques of fiction that they had not previously recognized or understood the significance of.