During the last two decades the structuralist theory and study of narrative that was christened ‘narratology’ has become so dynamic and diversified that there has been a veritable renaissance in narrative theory and narrative analysis, generating a variety of ‘post-classical’ approaches, new research questions and innovative methodologies. Outlining the renaissance of narratology since the end of the 1990s, this introduction provides an overview over both the research history of narratology and some of the most important recent developments in postclassical narratology, or rather the proliferation of new narratologies. It also delineates the major trends and seminal publications in narratology, the ongoing internationalization and institutionalization of narrative theory, and those approaches and research fields that the other articles in this special thematic issue deal with.