敘述評論是敘事學的核心概念之一。作為敘述者或作者干預敘事的主要途徑,它不僅是構成完整的敘事框架或流程上的重要一環,更潛藏著敘述者或作者特定的意識形態、行為規范和價值認同。無論是以布斯和查特曼為代表的敘事學或修辭學派,還是以拉波夫和弗萊西曼為代表的語言學派,在致力于敘述評論的概念界定、類型學建構的同時,也更加關注敘述評論在敘事中的功能與作用。相關研究雖然為文學創作和批評提供了重要的理論支撐,但也存在類型劃分依據不一、研究重點失衡甚至文類偏見等問題和不足。

Commentary is one of the core concepts in narratology and as the major device of narratorial/authorial intervention or intrusion, it is not only an integral element in constituting a complete narrative framework or process, but also embeds and communicates the narrator’s/author’s ideology, norms and values. Whether it is the narratological/rhetorical approach represented by Booth and Chatman, or the linguistic approach proposed by Labov and Fleischman, they all seek to explore the conceptual definition and typology of commentary or evaluation, and focus more on its functions in different forms of narrative. Despite the theoretical platform provided by these studies, there still exist some problems, for example, the inconsistent criteria in deciding the types, the unbalanced focus, and even the generic prejudice.