Editorial information

The living handbook of narratology (LHN) is based on the Handbook of Narratology edited by Peter Hühn, John Pier, Wolf Schmid and Jörg Schönert and first published by Walter de Gruyter in 2009.

Responsibility for the development, implementation and overall administration of the living handbook rests with the LHN executive editor (Jan Christoph Meister) who is supported by the editorial assistant (Wilhelm Schernus).

Solicitation and editorial supervision of LHN content, as well as moderation of comments and suggestions submitted by registered users is undertaken jointly by the editors and the executive editor of the LHN.

What is the added value of the LHN?

The LHN is an open access publication. It makes available all of the 32 articles contained in the original print version–and more.

The LHN offers the additional functionality of an electronic publication, including full-text search facility, one-click-export of reference information, and digital humanities tools for text analysis.

Why is the LHN called a living handbook?

The LHN continuously expands its original content base by adding new articles on further concepts and theories fundamental to narratology, and to the study of narrative in general.

The LHN is based on a DRUPAL-CMS installation: it offers registered narratologists the opportunity to comment on existing articles, to suggest additions or corrections, and to submit new articles to the editors.

What about quality control, versioning and longevity?

The editorial board for the print and the online publication is identical: all articles are of the same high standard. Furthermore, any amendment or alteration to an existing article suggested by a registered user must be moderated before it can be made public.

The DRUPAL-CMS system provides for full version control, which is integrated into the one-click-referencing tool: any hyperlink you export will point to the exact version that you used at that time, and the version itself will always remain available.

From time to time, the content of the LHN will be archived in the form of an updated print edition of the Handbook of Narratology.

Previous versions

The first version of the lhn was published in co-operation with Hamburg University Press. This version is available for archival purposes and can be accessed at http://wikis.sub.uni-hamburg.de/lhn/index.php/Main_Page.

Project partners

Funded by the programs "Wissenschaftliche Literaturversorgungs- und Informationssysteme (LIS)" of the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft).