A narrative can be described as the transmission of information from “the narrator” to “the narratee”. Put most simply, Martin Kreiswirth concludes that narratives occur when “ Something happened; or, better, someone telling someone else that something happened”.[1] These transmissions do not only have to be oral, and with a society increasingly dependent on technological means of communication and the cyber, this becomes clear. “The presence of narrative in almost all human discourse”[2] can not only be observed when two or more people are participating in a conversation, but also through internet media sources delivering news across the world daily, personal blogs (such as this one), and videos; many of which allow the “narratee” to draw his or her own conclusions about the message of the narrative.
As Annemarie Fischer points out in her Keynote titled “ Defining narrative”: “ The skill of storytelling as well as the striving for story hearing is a human condition.” [3] Both the storyteller (human, cyber, whatever it may be) and the receiver play an active and crucial role in the narrative cycle. “When you narrate you construct”[4] but, it is important to realize that as you listen, analyze, question, infer, and draw conclusions, that too is constructing as well; I would call this “constructing an interpretation of the narrative”.
As long as human beings exist, and have the capacity to share thoughts with one another, narratives will exist. Written, oral, or in the future possibly even saved on a memory card or computer chip, narratives will adapt as people do.
[1] Kreiswirth, Martin: Merely Telling Stories? Narrative and Knowledge in the Human Sciences. Poestics Today 21:2 (Summer 2000), p. 294.
[2] Abbott, H. Porter. The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative. 2cnd Ed. Cambridge University press. P. 1. Print.
[3] Fischer, Annemarie. “Defining Narrative.” Global Media Narratives. Binghamton University. Binghamton, NY. 2/24/2011. Keynote.
[4] Abbott, H. Porter. The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative. 2cnd Ed. Cambridge University press. P. 65. Print.
I like the point you made regarding narratives adapting in the future. Technological advances will change and further increase the way narratives are told in the future.
ReplyDeleteI also like your last sentence, "Written, oral, or in the future possibly even saved on a memory card or computer chip".
ReplyDeleteSince narrative is a necessary human condition, it will exist by changing its form whatever our communication style will be.