Description
Narrative practice has come under attack in the current "post-truth" era. In fact, many associate "narrative hermeneutics"--the field of inquiry concerned with reflection on the meaning and interpretation of stories--directly with this putative movement beyond truth. Challenging this view, The Use and Abuse of Stories argues that this broad arena of inquiry instead serves as a vitally important vehicle for addressing and redressing the social and political problems at hand. Hanna Meretoja and Mark Freeman have gathered an interdisciplinary group of esteemed authors to explore how interpretation is relevant to current discussions in narrative studies and to the broader debate that revolves around issues of truth, facts, and narrative. The contributions turn to the tradition of narrative hermeneutics to emphasize that narrative is a cultural meaning-making practice that is integral to how we make sense of who we are and who we could be. Addressing topics ranging from the dangers of political narratives to questions of truth in medical and psychiatric practice, this volume shows how narrative hermeneutics contributes to topical debates both in interdisciplinary narrative studies and in the current cultural and political situation in which issues of truth have gained new urgency.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Challenges and Prospects of Narrative Hermeneutics in Tumultuous TimesHanna Meretoja and Mark FreemanPart I: Politics of StorytellingChapter 1: The Inevitability, and Danger, of NarrativeMark FreemanChapter 2: Testimony: Truth, Lies, and the Hermeneutics of SuspicionColin DavisChapter 3: Hermeneutic Awareness in Uncertain Times: Post-truth, Narrative Agency, and Existential DiminishmentHanna MeretojaPart II: Understanding the SelfChapter 4: Verstehen and narrativeJens BrockmeierChapter 5: "Be Loyal to the Story": Sorrow, Narrative, and Truth-tellingMolly AndrewsChapter 6: Narrative as an Interpretation of Self-PatternShaun GallagherChapter 7: Speaking of Elves, Dragons, and Werewolves: Narrative Hermeneutics and Other-than-Human IdentitiesClive Baldwin, Lauren Ripley, and Shania ArsenaultPart III: Understanding the OtherChapter 8: Identity, Understanding, and NarrativeGeorgia WarnkeChapter 9: Found in Translation: Solicitude and Linguistic Hospitality in Storytelling Andreea Deciu RitivoiChapter 10: The Hermeneutics of Darkness: Interpreting Perpetrators on their CrimesBrian Schiff, Kaylee Altimore, and Genevieve BougherChapter 11: Perpetrator Histories, Silencing and Untold Stories: A View from Contemporary Psychoanalysis Roger FriePart IV: Narrative PracticesChapter 12: Literary and Film NarrativesJakob LotheChapter 13: Queer Perspectives on Narrative Practices in Asylum PoliticsAda SchwanckChapter 14: Narrative Medicine: The Book at the Gates of BiomedicineDanielle SpencerChapter 15: Psychiatric Truth and Narrative Hermeneutics Bradley LewisIndex
