Narration--more easily defined than mastered--is the recital of an incident, or

a group of facts and occurrences, in such a manner as to produce a desired

effect.

 

The laws of narration are few, but its successful practise involves more of art

than would at first appear--so much, indeed, that we cannot even touch upon its

technique here, but must content ourselves with an examination of a few examples

of narration as used in public speech.

 

In a preliminary way, notice how radically the public speaker's use of narrative

differs from that of the story-writer in the more limited scope, absence of

extended dialogue and character drawing, and freedom from elaboration of detail,

which characterize platform narrative. On the other hand, there are several

similarities of method: the frequent combination of narration with exposition,

description, argumentation, and pleading; the care exercised in the arrangement

of material so as to produce a strong effect at the close (climax); the very

general practise of concealing the "point" (denouement) of a story until the

effective moment; and the careful suppression of needless, and therefore

hurtful, details.

 

So we see that, whether for magazine or platform, the art of narration involves

far more than the recital of annals; the succession of events recorded requires

a _plan_ in order to bring them out with real effect.