metanarrative
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In social theory, a metanarrative (also master narrative, or meta-narrative and grand narrative; or ) is an overarching narrative about smaller historical narratives, which offers a society legitimation through the anticipated completion of a (as yet unrealized) master idea. The term was popularized by the writing of French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard in 1979. Metanarrative is considered a foundational concept of postmodernism.
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- narrative
Show 3 more facts
- facet of
- Postmodernism
- studied by
- critical sociology
- topic's main category
- Category:Metanarratives
via Wikidata · CC0
~6 min read
Encyclopedic overview
10 sectionsContents
- Etymology
- Lyotard's thesis
- Lyotard's proposal
- Criticism of Lyotard's thesis
- In narratology and communication
- See also
- References
- Sources
- Further reading
- External links
In social theory, a metanarrative (also master narrative, or meta-narrative and grand narrative; or ) is an overarching narrative about smaller historical narratives, which offers a society legitimation through the anticipated completion of a (as yet unrealized) master idea. The term was popularized by the writing of French philosopher Jean-François Lyotard in 1979. Metanarrative is considered a foundational concept of postmodernism.
Master narrative and synonymous terms like metanarrative are also used in narratology to mean "stories within stories," as coined by literary theorist Gérard Genette.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “metanarrative” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.