Narrative

compiling some literature and words around the use of narrative

The Narrative Construction of Reality (Bruner, 1991):

"...we organise our experience and our memory of human happenings mainly in the form of narrative—stories, excuses, myths, reasons for doing and not doing..." (Bruner, 1991, p4). 

"Narratives, then, are a version of reality whose acceptability is governed by convention and "narrative necessity" rather than by empirical verification and logical requiredness..." (Bruner, 1991, p4). 

Bruner provides 10 features of a narrative:

1. Narrative diachronicity - an account of events occurring over time.
2. Particularity - context or a particular embodiment
3. Intentional state entailment - so no causality, just the basis for interpreation of what happens
4. Hermeneutic composability - interpretation through intention attribution and back- ground knowledge
5. Canonicity and breach - (not sure how this works...)

6. Referentiality
7?
8. Normativeness

9. Context sensitivity and negotiability

10. Narrative accrual

In this paper Bruner has described how reality is described through narrative principles, how thought is enunciated (through discourse). He concludes that his work has just begun and that he wants to show how narrative can organise 'the structure of human experience' (p.21).

The Value of Narrativity in the Representation of Reality (white, 1980):

"narrative might well be considered a solution to a problem of general human concern, namely, the problem of how to translate knowing into telling" (White, 1980, p.6)

So what is the difference between narrative and discourse? The latter is subjective and identifies an 'ego' whereas the former is objective and is just the logical progression of facts and information that join to tell the account.

"Benveniste shows that certain grammatical forms like the pronoun "I" (and its implicit reference "thou"), the pronominal "indicators" (certain demonstrative pronouns), the adverbial indicators (like "here," "now," "yesterday," "today," "tomorrow," etc.) and, at least in French, certain verb tenses like the present, the present perfect, and the future, find themselves limited to discourse, while narrative in the strictest sense is distinguished by the exclusive use of the third person and of such forms as the preterit and the pluperfect." p.7.

So, i think I am using discourse not narrative if I am using 'I'?

 Next I need to read the work of Albert Bandura? - Actually not much use - more about social cognative therapy...

This article may have something of interest:

Narrative Means to Preventative Ends: A Narrative Engagement Framework for Designing Prevention Interventions
Michelle Miller-Day  & Michael L. Hech

http://doi/10.1080/10410236.2012.762861