Storytelling as a Cultural Practice and Life Form

Abstract

Abstract Narrative is introduced as a cultural practice and life form which contributes to creating the foundation of our lives as it helps us to interpret the world, through stories, in which we must be able to act. Borrowed from Ricœur (Time and narrative: The configuration of time in fictional narrative (Vol. 2, K. McLaughlin & D. Pellauer, Trans). Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press (1985) and The course of recognition (D. Pellauer, Trans). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press (2005).), the concepts of time and space are presented as the contexts and products of narrative. The functions of storytelling are discussed under the heading of “technologies of Self-construction” (inspired by Foucault, Technologies of the self. In L. H. Martin, H. Gutman, & P. H. Hutton (Eds.), Technologies of the self: A seminar with Michel Foucault (pp. 16–49). Amherst, MA: The University of Massachusetts Press (1988).), which provide orientation, self-understanding, and transgression. These need to be developed within the constraints of social norms—so the theory goes—and yet subjects still have some room to move within the process of adopting norms (Butler, Giving an account of oneself. New York, NY: Fordham University Press (2005).).