Knowledge Bank

This article documents the production and analysis of time maps, the graphs which are produced by plotting a narrative's fabula against its syuzhet. I describe a method for generating time maps which incorporates numerical values of narratological time, producing more detailed figures than those which have been made by simply tracking the order of scenes. To date, Nelles and Williams have been the only scholars to discuss the theoretical value of time maps, asserting that the graphs prove the inherent nonlinearity of narrative temporality. Building on their work, I argue that time maps place the numerical aspects of narratological time in dialogue with the experiential aspects, coining the term "temporal space" to describe the abstract and multivariate relationship between a narrative's fabula and its syuzhet. Furthermore, I claim that time maps enable an interdisciplinary deciphering practice, as described by Wynter. First, time maps visualize the foundational work of Genette, while clarifying the theoretical commentary of Richardson and Herman. Producing these graphs also reveals the complexity of temporal language in ways that are valuable to computational narratologists, such as Underwood, Mimno, and Meister. Finally, time maps have served as the basis for an autistic narratology, and allow for geometrically neuroqueer interpretations of individual narratives, as I demonstrate in my brief reading of Citizen Kane.