ABSTRACT
The multiple choice of routes between the Clashing or Wandering Rocks instead of the single course between Charybdis and Scylla only partly illustrates the distinction between multi-strand and single-strand narration, just as the 'meanwhile back at the ranch' formula merely indicates one special case of stranded narrative. They both signal to the reader that the separate parts of the presented world must be constructed as spliced entities first before they can be related to one another. In reading narrative texts, the reader must be prepared to design not only the double vision of a single or homogeneous process and a single or homogeneous world, but also their double-strand or multi-strand equivalents. Textual coding as well as imaginative objectification of presented and presentational strands can be expressed also in terms of syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationships. Clearly, the study of narrative strategy demonstrates the artificiality of the distinction between the technical and thematic function of strands.
