Stories told partly in the past, partly in the present tense: what do they tell us about narration?

What is it about?

Ordinary communication is about sharing information that is somehow relevant to you and your interlocutors and coordinating your opinions. Story telling is different as it shifts the readeres/listeners to another world than the one they presently inhabit. This makes sense of the fact that stories are often told in the past tense, but at the same time it raises the question why some a storiy, or a part of it, is told in the present tense. This article focuses on cases of stories partly told in the present tense, and shows that this usage regulates the relationship between viewpoints within the story and viewpoints and opinions in the actual world of the readers.

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