To understand the picture of narratables and unnarratables people should do specific researches in the media. In the daily life there are a lot of events that happens in people’s life and which might be connected to the narratables and unnaratables. However, there are some sorts of narratives which are hard to decide either they are narratables or unnaratables, for instance the Checa’s president stole a pen. [1] Does someone care about a stolen pen? Should people pay attention who did it? Generally, people don’t care about those kinds of events from daily life, but if the president steals a pen it changing the direction of narratives like from unnarratable news to narratable news.
First of all it’s better to bring the definition of narratables and unnarratables from scholars’ articles. According to the Gerald Prince definition of narratables deserved to be said in media because it is acceptable and people should know about it.[2] Self-reflective narratives, whether these be called life histories, life stories, or personal experience narratives no longer exist because of acknowledged to be inevitable and interesting. [3] Unnaratable does not meet important quality of news for people because it does not enter the field of people's interest. For example the news from our daily life is unnarratable because they only concern us.
People should be acknowledged about the quality of news in order to make a right desicion in choosing eligible narratives. According to Hermans’ conclusion “it doesn’t necessarily mean that a specific reader will find this text interesting”.[4] which means that every man to his taste.
[1] "Video: Czech President Steals Pen - Telegraph." Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph Online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph - Telegraph. Web. 16 Apr. 2011.
[2] Prince, Gerald:Narratable.In: Dictionary of Narratology, p.56f.
[3] Workman, Mark E. "Narratable and Unnarratable Lives." JSTOR. Western States Folklore Society, Vol. 51, No. 1, The Personal Narrative in Literature (Jan. 1992), pp. 97-107. Web. 11 Apr. 2011.
[4] Herman, Luc/Vervaeck, Bart: Narrative Interest as Cultural Negotiation. Narrative, Vol. 17, No. 1 (January 2009), pp. 111-112.
I like your post on appealing and dis-appealing narratives (narratable or unnarratable narratives). It delved into a different perspective about the definitions of both terms, and you used a very interesting, and quirky example, of a president stealing a pen, which I liked. The only thing that I don't particularly agree with is:
ReplyDelete"Self-reflective narratives, whether these be called life histories, life stories, or personal experience narratives no longer exist because of acknowledged to be inevitable and interesting. "[1]
because it is our own narratives, our own stories, and experiences that allow us to perceive happenings, events, and news with or without relevance to our lives. Galtung and Ruge state:
“the more the event can be seen in personal terms, as due to the action of specific individuals, the more probable that it will become a news item.” [2]
So the term "news", and it's quality, and effectiveness is based on the audience. Our own self-reflective narrative, or "life story", is crucial when it comes to deciding what is important news, and even what is news to us period. So it could be taken to mean, that self-reflective narratives does in fact exist, and is the key thing about every person that acknowledges or doesn't, any other text, narrative, news or etc, as relevant or something to be dismissed.
Workman, Mark E. "Narratable and Unnarratable Lives." JSTOR. Western States Folklore Society, Vol. 51, No. 1, The Personal Narrative in Literature (Jan. 1992), pp. 97-107. Web. 08 May 2011. [1]
Galtung, J., and M. H. Ruge. "The Structure of Foreign News: The Presentation of the Congo, Cuba and Cyprus Crises in Four Norwegian Newspapers." Journal of Peace Research 2.1 (1965): 64-90. Print. pg 68. [2]