General Introduction:

[Tapez un texte] I. [Tapez un texte]

Background:
At the time of writing, the term cognitive narratology itself has been in use for only about a decade. As Eder (2003: 283 n.10) notes, the term appears to have been first used by Jahn (1997). However, the issues and concerns encompassed by the term have been live ones for a considerably longer period. The term cognitive narratology is an umbrella term which covers a variety of approches coming from various disciplines: neurology, artificial intelligence, various kinds of psychology evolutionary, social and cognitivelinguistics and philosophy of mind. This can help foster the development of "postclassical" approaches to the study of narrative. Cognitive narratology can be defined as the study of mind-relevant aspects of storytelling practices, whereverand by whatever meansthose practices occur. Narratology refers to both the theory and the study of narrative and narrative structure and the ways that these affect our perception. Narrative as a mode of thinking shifts the focus of attention from the mind that decodes the story to the mind that conceives it. This mind can be the mind of the author, if there is a text and an over act of communication, but, for many researchers, a story can be a representation that never leaves the mind of the subject. This is particularly the case for those psychologists who conceive of the self of as a narrative construct, for having a self is not the exclusive privilege of those write autobiographies. The focus on narrative as a mode of thinking covers not only the activity of telling stories to oneself or to others, but it also directs attention to the importance of narrative communication for the development of human mind and for the creation of social relations. The study of verbal art can and must overcome the divorce between an abstract formal approach and an equally abstract ideological approach. Form and content in discourse are one, once we understand that verbal discourse is a social phenomenonsocial throughout its entire range and in each and every in its factors, from the sound image to the furthest reaches of the abstact meaning. Mikhail Bakhtin( 1981, 259)

General Introduction:
[Tapez un texte] [Tapez un texte] For Bakhtin, monological language is a corruption of an underlying dialogism. All signifying practices (i.e. use of language and symbols) have an ultimately dialogical aim. Human consciousness is not a unified entity, but rather, is always conflict-ridden between different consciousnesses. Indeed, a single consciousness separate from interaction with other consciousnesses is impossible.

II.

Statement of purpose:
The purpose of this text is to summarise in a concise manner some aspects and elements of a dialogical approach to narratlogy and cognition, and to explain how does Bakhtin state the relevance and the applications of Dialogism in Cignitive Narratology .

III.

Statement of problem:
The problem raised in this study is presented in these following questions: 1) What are the principal characteristics and elements of the dialogical approach to Cognitive Narratology? 2) What is the relevance and the applications of Dialogism to Cognitive Narratology in the opinion of Bakhtin?

IV.

Hypothesis:
1) 2)

V.

The structure of the dessertation:

This dissertation includes two chapters. The first one is about the Narratology as a cognitive

science. The second is about Dialogism as a crucial element of Cognitive narratology.