ABSTRACT
This chapter looks into the understandings that scholars coming from various fields of human sciences have formed of the narrative and its genres. The work of literary theorists Kenneth Burke and Northrop Frye is especially useful in approaching IR narratives as well. Burke emphasizes the fundamental role of familiar, perfected story forms, and Frye presents the four generic plots as the seasons of the year, phases in a cycle. Among IR scholars, Hayward Alker, Hidemi Suganami and Richard Ned Lebow stand out as appreciating narratives as a means of interpreting facts and constructing causal explanations. To facilitate the ensuing analysis, the distinguishing features of the generic plots are summarized. In romances and epics, unceasingly brave heroes slay their evil enemies on a determined path toward a happy end, whereas in tragedies, proud heroes fight for doomed causes and face demise. In comedies, everyone encountered along the bumpy but bloodless road is invited to the final celebration. Ironic and satirical stories portray incoherent characters and incomprehensible events, violent clashes and total absurdity. Although studying IR contributions as competing narrative bids is certainly not a central metatheoretical occupation in the field, tragedies and romances have been discussed more often than comedies or ironic/satirical stories.
