The role of gender and culture in the narrative construction of identity

Abstract

This paper focuses on gendered constructions of success and failure in narratives produced in a specific cultural context. The paper presents results of the analysis of narratives produced in the context of a class reunion. The ca. 10,000-word corpus is made up of 28 short, autobiographical narratives told by 18 females and 10 males in 2007, in Hungary. A discourse-analytical approach is applied, which makes possible the combination of a close analysis of actual texts, the self-presentation of women and men in front of their class mates, and of the wider social-cultural context in which they are produced and consumed. An analysis of narrative networks links the local-interactional and social-discursive functions of the narratives. First, macro-topics of success and failure are identified then their linguistic expressions are examined focusing on distancing through the frequent use of slang, mitigation and self-irony. Results are explained by the ambivalent relationship towards success in the Hungarian value-system as well as by the gender-differentiated meaning of the concepts of success and failure.