The (Un)Narratable

If certain attributes of a narrative make it more appealing, then it could be said that the lack of those attributes will make it less appealing. In her keynote, Fischer makes note of several factors that contribute to a narrative being worthy of narration.[i] Those stories that do make the cut, and are sent and received, have qualities that intrigue and engage the audience for one reason or another. Herman, in his “Cambridge Companion to Narrative” defines a narrative as a story that “introduces conflict”[ii] it might be said that a narrative which, upon reception, presents unbalance, surprise and unpredictability, may well be a very narratable narrative given the appeal of humans to experience and hear about things that deviate from the norm. In their article, “Narrative Interest as Cultural Negotiation,” Herman and Varvaek write, “The tellability of a story is often conceptualized in terms of the weirdness that is said to characterize story elements such as events.”[iii] Afterall, people do not watch television and news shows to hear what they already know and experience, they seek stories or narratives that teach or show something which is outstanding and extraordinary. Because Herman makes clear that a story cannot be a narrative without some disruption of events, it would make sense to propose that a narrative is lacking in narratable quality if it does not cause some type of disturbance in the mind of the audience. That is, human nature causes the mind to be curious about that which we do not know. A narratable narrative will take control of its audience by peaking the interest and curiosity of those at the receiving end.

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[i] Fischer, Annemarie:Keynote. The (Un)Narratable.

[ii] Herman, David (ed.): The Cambridge Companion to Narrative. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2007, p. 279.

[iii]Herman, L., & Varvaeck, B. (2009, January). Narrative interest as cultural negotiation. Narrative, 17(1), 113.