Narrative and Genre introduces students to two key concepts in Media Studies, complementing Image and Representation published in 1998. The book covers the major narrative theorists and is illustrated with numerous case studies including The X-Files, Wuthering Heights, Se7en, and newspaper reporting. A brief history of narrative in literature surveys text from The Epic of Gilgamesh to Paul Auster's postmodern Ghost. The section on genre offers exhaustive case studies on film noir and the "hard-boiled" detective novel, the TV cop genre, and soap opera.