The Pivotal Narratological Category in Historical Perspective

The article examines narrative strategies in their historical dynamics. It singles out the so-called narrative worldview and the ethos of narrativity as basic parameters of a narrative strategy. Heroic legends and fairy tales inherited a precedent worldview and the ethos of peace from mythology. The post-mythological development of religious consciousness leads to a narrative strategy of the parable type that implies an imperative world model and prescriptive ethos, as implemented, for example, in the Old Testament. The narrative strategy of the New Testament stands out due to the constructive combination of the precedent worldview and a fundamentally new ethos of personal solidarity. The practice of telling jokes and ancient Greek adventure novels develop a circumstantial world model and the ethos of self-realization. Finally, the classic novel explores the probabilistic worldview and becomes a basis of several new narrative strategies that vary in their ethos.