In every narrative, there are words that tell a story, and there are parts of a story that are untold, or left out. Prince describes this “left-out”, or the unnarratable as which “cannot be narrated or is not worth narrating either because it transgresses a law, or because it defies the power of a particular narrator, or because it falls below the so-called threshold of narratability”[1]. Along these lines, Prince also points out that something that may be unnarratable in one narrative, can, and may be narrated by another author. There are many factors that an author takes into consideration when writing an article, and one of the most important questions for an author is how the narrative will appeal to the audience. The appeal or dissapeal of a narrative has a lot of factors, but one of the most important factors is the proximity to the audience.
According to Herman, a narrative will have appeal when the audience finds “interest thanks to the network in which they circulate and in which the reader takes part”[2] . One story that comes to mind when thinking about the appeal of narratives is the tragedy of September 11th, 2001. As an American, it was the first time I had seen a tragedy to that extent on American soil, and quite close to my home. Due to the proximity and devastating impact on Americans, that narrative had more appeal than a tragedy that may have happened across the world.
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