Abstract:
The present essay explores figural narrative situation in contemporary flash fiction. Drawing on the analytical framework of narrative typology proposed by Franz K. Stanzel, and redefined by Manfred Jahn, which includes the first-person narrative, authorial narrative, and figural narrative, each characterized by specific features of involvement, distance, access to knowledge, voice, narrative perspective or focalization, etc., the essay investigates the underlying linguistic features and narrative techniques of actualization of the figural narrative situation. By delineating the specific narrative categories and rhetorical means in the flash story “Before/After” by M. McCluskey, the undertaken analysis aims to determine the innovative constituting principles of the figural narrative type in contemporary fictional prose, both at the discourse and story levels.