Reviews for The Narrative Reader

The average rating for The Narrative Reader based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-04-28 00:00:00 David Klingenberger My area of research is cognitive narrative - that is, the stories we live by. This book was a pleasant surprise for me as Jackson looks precisely at that. Were I to rename it, I'd call it "The Story Isn't True," as Jackson looks at that which is constantly true about stories and, reflexively, that which is constantly false - using examples from his considerable experience, from films to literature to oral stories, to elaborate on the dynamics that make stories meaningful, memorable, and always changing. Of particular interest to me were those chapters that examine the ways we use stories to help us negotiate reality - to decide when it's just to execute a life, when people permit lies through story, when people find beauty and fulfillment. This isn't an academic work; it is consummately accessible, and both entertaining and thought-provoking. Unlike other favorites, like Living Narrative: Creating Lives in Everyday Storytelling, which focus on the personal cognitive functions of narrative, The Story is True centers on the social and situated roles of story-telling and story-believing. Much of it comes down to what is described in the books' chapter 14 preamble quote, by Walter Benjamin: "The Storyteller takes what he tells from experience-his own or that reported by others. And he in turn makes it the experience of those who are listening to his tale."

Review # 2 was written on 2014-11-26 00:00:00 Gordon Labatte "We don't tell stories just to make sounds; we do things with stories: we make points, we court favor, we entertain, and we bond. All stories happen in the service of some end, and that end influences what story is told and how it is told." "Most families have such narratives-- narratives that seem simple but contain more about the family than anyone could or would ever say overtly." confessions interest listeners