Beating Illness Into Shape: Applied Narratology and the Dangers of Storytelling
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Sjoerd-Jeroen Moenandar
Abstract
Interest in narratology from other academic disciplines and professional practices of storytelling has often been limited to what we could call an Aristotelian narrative approach, with its emphasis on coherence and closure. In this paper, we critically assess interdisciplinary applications of narratological theory. We discuss the possibility of an ‘applied narratology’: the transfer of narratological methods and findings to professional practices of narrative (e.g., artists’ practices, education and journalism). Finally, we explore the dangers of storytelling and how these can be addressed by an applied narratology that offers not only tools to improve narrative, but also tools to resist it. As an example, we discuss practice-led artistic research on the value of alternative narrative traditions, informed by the experiences of one of the authors as a carrier of a genetic mutation for Hereditary Diffuse Gastric Cancer.
Abstract
Interest in narratology from other academic disciplines and professional practices of storytelling has often been limited to what we could call an Aristotelian narrative approach, with its emphasis on coherence and closure. In this paper, we critically assess interdisciplinary applications of narratological theory. We discuss the possibility of an ‘applied narratology’: the transfer of narratological methods and findings to professional practices of narrative (e.g., artists’ practices, education and journalism). Finally, we explore the dangers of storytelling and how these can be addressed by an applied narratology that offers not only tools to improve narrative, but also tools to resist it. As an example, we discuss practice-led artistic research on the value of alternative narrative traditions, informed by the experiences of one of the authors as a carrier of a genetic mutation for Hereditary Diffuse Gastric Cancer.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- By Way of Introduction – Reflections on Narrative and Values, and the Value of Narratives 1
- The Ethical Potential and Risks of Narratives: Six Evaluative Continuums (and Sofi Oksanen’s Open Letter to Melania Trump) 23
- Narrative, Values, and the Place of the Human: Coordinating Anthropocentrism and Biocentrism 43
- The Circulating Professor: Narrative Configuration in Nabokov’s Pnin 61
- Multi-authored Yet Authorless Film Photonovels, an Ethical Paradox? 75
- Schrödinger’s Duck-Rabbit: Ambiguity and Meta-Framing across Media 93
- “Find me a motive!” Accusatory Rhetoric, Narrative and Values in Emile Zola’s ‘J’accuse’ 117
- The Right to Speak: The Cultural Archive and the Public Sphere in South Africa 133
- Dangerous Narratives: How Fake News and Narrative Journalism Shed Light on Journalism’s Epistemological Foundations and Self-understanding in the Twenty-first Century 155
- Beating Illness Into Shape: Applied Narratology and the Dangers of Storytelling 181
- Contributors 205
- Index 209
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- By Way of Introduction – Reflections on Narrative and Values, and the Value of Narratives 1
- The Ethical Potential and Risks of Narratives: Six Evaluative Continuums (and Sofi Oksanen’s Open Letter to Melania Trump) 23
- Narrative, Values, and the Place of the Human: Coordinating Anthropocentrism and Biocentrism 43
- The Circulating Professor: Narrative Configuration in Nabokov’s Pnin 61
- Multi-authored Yet Authorless Film Photonovels, an Ethical Paradox? 75
- Schrödinger’s Duck-Rabbit: Ambiguity and Meta-Framing across Media 93
- “Find me a motive!” Accusatory Rhetoric, Narrative and Values in Emile Zola’s ‘J’accuse’ 117
- The Right to Speak: The Cultural Archive and the Public Sphere in South Africa 133
- Dangerous Narratives: How Fake News and Narrative Journalism Shed Light on Journalism’s Epistemological Foundations and Self-understanding in the Twenty-first Century 155
- Beating Illness Into Shape: Applied Narratology and the Dangers of Storytelling 181
- Contributors 205
- Index 209
