Life “on holiday”?
-
Mark Freeman
Abstract
There has been an increasing emphasis in narrative inquiry on “small” stories (i.e., those derived from everyday social exchanges) rather than “big” stories (i.e., those derived from interviews, clinical encounters, autobiographical writing, and other such interrogative venues). The latter, it may be argued, inevitably entail a problematic distance from everyday reality and may thus be said to embody life “on holiday.” On one level, this is surely true: big stories, insofar as they entail a significant measure of reflection on either an episode, a portion of a life, or the whole of it, are a step removed from those everyday goings-on that are the focus of small stories. Far from necessarily being a liability, however, the distance that is intrinsic to big story narrative reflection creates opportunities for understanding that are largely unavailable in the immediacy of the moment. Big stories and small stories thus complement one another; taken together, they represent a promising integrative direction for narrative inquiry.
Abstract
There has been an increasing emphasis in narrative inquiry on “small” stories (i.e., those derived from everyday social exchanges) rather than “big” stories (i.e., those derived from interviews, clinical encounters, autobiographical writing, and other such interrogative venues). The latter, it may be argued, inevitably entail a problematic distance from everyday reality and may thus be said to embody life “on holiday.” On one level, this is surely true: big stories, insofar as they entail a significant measure of reflection on either an episode, a portion of a life, or the whole of it, are a step removed from those everyday goings-on that are the focus of small stories. Far from necessarily being a liability, however, the distance that is intrinsic to big story narrative reflection creates opportunities for understanding that are largely unavailable in the immediacy of the moment. Big stories and small stories thus complement one another; taken together, they represent a promising integrative direction for narrative inquiry.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introductory remarks 1
- Narrative research and the challenge of accumulating knowledge 7
- The role of narrative in personality psychology today 17
- The promise (and challenge) of an innovative narrative psychology 27
- Biographical structuring 37
- Narrative pre-construction 47
- A new role for narrative in variationist sociolinguistics 57
- Story formulations in talk-in-interaction 69
- Continuity and change in narrative study 81
- Dialogue in a discourse context 91
- Rhetorical aesthetics and other issues in the study of literary narrative 103
- Narrative as construction and discursive resource 113
- The narrative negotiation of identity and belonging 123
- Narratives in action 133
- Thinking big with small stories in narrative and identity analysis 145
- Life “on holiday”? 155
- Stories: Big or small 165
- Entitlement and empathy in personal narrative 175
- Frankie, Johnny, Oprah and Me 185
- Rescuing narrative from qualitative research 195
- The performance turn in narrative studies 205
- Applied ethnopoetics 215
- The self-telling body 225
- Narrative thinking and the emergence of postpsychological therapies 237
- Do good stories produce good health? 249
- Living stories 261
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introductory remarks 1
- Narrative research and the challenge of accumulating knowledge 7
- The role of narrative in personality psychology today 17
- The promise (and challenge) of an innovative narrative psychology 27
- Biographical structuring 37
- Narrative pre-construction 47
- A new role for narrative in variationist sociolinguistics 57
- Story formulations in talk-in-interaction 69
- Continuity and change in narrative study 81
- Dialogue in a discourse context 91
- Rhetorical aesthetics and other issues in the study of literary narrative 103
- Narrative as construction and discursive resource 113
- The narrative negotiation of identity and belonging 123
- Narratives in action 133
- Thinking big with small stories in narrative and identity analysis 145
- Life “on holiday”? 155
- Stories: Big or small 165
- Entitlement and empathy in personal narrative 175
- Frankie, Johnny, Oprah and Me 185
- Rescuing narrative from qualitative research 195
- The performance turn in narrative studies 205
- Applied ethnopoetics 215
- The self-telling body 225
- Narrative thinking and the emergence of postpsychological therapies 237
- Do good stories produce good health? 249
- Living stories 261
