‚Motivation von hinten‘. Durchschaubarkeit des Erzählens und Finalität in der Geschichte des Erzählens

Abstract

The article discusses forms of narrative orientation, both towards the ending of a narrative and governed by it. Prevalent in pre-modern fiction is a specific kind of motivation, which the German scholar Clemens Lugowski called ‘motivation from behind’. This kind of motivation operates on the level of narrative discourse. Modern fiction tends to minimize this motivation in favour of causal motivations on the level of the narrated events or story. Finality (teleology) is a trait shared by all plots, therefore a story can be anticipated by readers. The article differentiates forms of finality and inquires into the transformation of finality from the beginning of oral narration in folktales to modern fiction.