Small stories in political discourse
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Anita Fetzer
Abstract
This contribution examines the form and function of small stories in monologic and dialogic political discourse. It focuses on the interface between private and public spheres of life, investigating the traditional conception of politics as public-domain anchored and that of a small story as set in the private sphere. Particular attention is given to interpersonal aspects of communication, especially to the reconstruction of common ground. The paper is organized as follows:The first part examines the form of small stories from a local-context perspective as embedded sequences taking into account setting, sequential organization, characters and voice, and evaluation. The second part analyses their function. It adapts a globally oriented perspective, examining the question of what makes a stretch of discourse count as a small story. Adapting the Gricean framework, small stories are assigned the status of a communicative contribution, and their contextualization is accounted for accordingly.In political discourse, narratives and small stories allow the politician to construct existential coherence across different genres, contexts and spheres of life.
Abstract
This contribution examines the form and function of small stories in monologic and dialogic political discourse. It focuses on the interface between private and public spheres of life, investigating the traditional conception of politics as public-domain anchored and that of a small story as set in the private sphere. Particular attention is given to interpersonal aspects of communication, especially to the reconstruction of common ground. The paper is organized as follows:The first part examines the form of small stories from a local-context perspective as embedded sequences taking into account setting, sequential organization, characters and voice, and evaluation. The second part analyses their function. It adapts a globally oriented perspective, examining the question of what makes a stretch of discourse count as a small story. Adapting the Gricean framework, small stories are assigned the status of a communicative contribution, and their contextualization is accounted for accordingly.In political discourse, narratives and small stories allow the politician to construct existential coherence across different genres, contexts and spheres of life.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- Introduction. Narrative revisited 1
- Contextual constraints in CMC narratives 19
- The role of electronics in the perception of everyday narratives 39
- “Audacious, brilliant!! What a strike!” 57
- Once upon a blog ... Storytelling in weblogs 79
- "Neeed to put his out there (my story)": Narratives in message boards 109
- Narrative sequences in political discourse 143
- Small stories in political discourse 163
- Unpacking narrative in a hypermedia ‘artedventure’ for children 185
- Chain and choice in filmic narrative 213
- Film discourse cohesion 245
- Person index 267
- Subject index 271
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgments vii
- Introduction. Narrative revisited 1
- Contextual constraints in CMC narratives 19
- The role of electronics in the perception of everyday narratives 39
- “Audacious, brilliant!! What a strike!” 57
- Once upon a blog ... Storytelling in weblogs 79
- "Neeed to put his out there (my story)": Narratives in message boards 109
- Narrative sequences in political discourse 143
- Small stories in political discourse 163
- Unpacking narrative in a hypermedia ‘artedventure’ for children 185
- Chain and choice in filmic narrative 213
- Film discourse cohesion 245
- Person index 267
- Subject index 271
