The Pre-Patriarchal Narratives is the name given by commentators to Gen 1-11. They are so named because they precede the narratives in Gen 12-50 that recount the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the 'Patriarchs' of Israel.
The PPN narrates the creation of the world by God and the intensely 'personal' attention he gave to the preparation of the Garden of Eden where humans may live in joyous communion with him in a relationship of divine largesse and trust. Human disobedience—sin—broke that relationship and dislocated all the joints of creation. Banished from the Garden in which they had been placed, the rest of the Pre-Patriarchal Narratives narrate the increasingly violent and destructive ways of humans. In a quiet unobtrusive way, however, the narratives also prepares us for the encounter with one particular family through whom God would eventually bring about the redemption from the desperate consequences of human sin.
For more on this see the Commentary on Genesis
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