The dark side of tellability

Norrick, Neal R.

doi:10.1075/ni.15.2.07nor

Cited by 109 publications

(101 citation statements)

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“…In some respects, this reduces the tellability stakes, as the interviewee is not responsible for the topic and is implicitly allowed space for extended story-telling. At the same time, the setting and questions raise the threshold above which particular details may be 'untellable' in Norrick's (2005) terms. Indeed, several of the responses include detailed descriptions of bodily functions and severe physical symptoms which would be inappropriate to mention in most other contexts.…”

Section: Narratives Professional Identities and Our Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this sense, death can be included among the experiences that Norrick (2005) describes as 'untellable', not because they are too mundane to reach the minimum threshold for tellability, but because they are 'too personal, too embarrassing or obscene', and therefore exceed the maximum threshold for tellability in most contexts (Norrick, 2005: 323). According to Norrick, such topics include illness and medical procedures, and taboo topics such as sex and dying.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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‘Good’ and ‘bad’ deaths: Narratives and professional identities in interviews with hospice managers

2014

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This article explores the formal and functional characteristics of narratives of 'good' and 'bad' deaths as they were told by 13 UK-based hospice managers in the course of semi-structured interviews. The interviewees' responses include a variety of remarkably consistent 'narratives of successful/frustrated intervention', which exhibit distinctive formal characteristics in terms of the starting point and core of the action, the choice of personal pronouns and metaphors, and the ways in which positive and negative evaluation is expressed. In functional terms, the hospice managers' narratives play an important role in representing and constructing their professional views, challenges and identities. Overall, the narratives argue for the role of hospices and professional hospice staff in facilitating a 'good' death, and, by presenting a relatively unified view, may potentially preclude alternative perspectives.

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Section: Narratives Professional Identities and Our Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Good’ and ‘bad’ deaths: Narratives and professional identities in interviews with hospice managers

2014

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“…question (first discussed by Labov, Storytelling in the Inner City). Indeed, most of the defining features of 'tellability' have been developed on oral storytelling rather than literary narratives (see Labov, 1972;Ochs and Capps, 2001;Norrick, 2005), as well as professional storytelling in legal and journalistic contexts (see Baroni, 2009) and short story structures (see Ryan, 1991).…”

Section: Problems Of Tellability In Germanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Narrative Concepts in the Study of Eighteenth-Century Literature

Mäkikalli¹,

Steinby²

2017

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The series from the Turku Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies (TUCEMEMS) publishes monographs and collective volumes placed at the intersection of disciplinary boundaries, introducing fresh connections between established fields of study. The series especially welcomes research combining or juxtaposing different kinds of primary sources and new methodological solutions to deal with problems presented by them. Encouraged themes and approaches include, but are not limited to, identity formation in medieval/early modern communities, and the analysis of texts and other cultural products as a communicative process comprising shared symbols and meanings. Series Editor Matti Peikola, University of Turku, FinlandNarrative Concepts in the Study of Eighteenth-Century Literature Edited by Liisa Steinby and Aino MäkikalliAmsterdam University Press Some rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, any part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise).Every effort has been made to obtain permission to use all copyrighted illustrations reproduced in this book. Nonetheless, whosoever believes to have rights to this material is advised to contact the publisher. Peritextual Disposition in French Eighteenth-Century Narratives 289Teemu Ikonen (University of Tampere) List of Abbreviations 309Index 311 Illustration 1 275 Illustration 2 276 Illustration 3 283 Illustration 4 285 List of Illustrations IntroductionThe Place of Narratology in the Historical Study of Eighteenth-Century Literature Liisa Steinby and Aino MäkikalliDefinierbar ist nur das, was keine Geschichte hat. (Nietzsche) 1 Narratological concepts, such as focalization, perspective, implied author, the distinction between story and discourse, and even homo-and heterodiegetic narration, today belong to the toolkit of scholars of literature, including those who do not consider themselves narratologists. Since literary analysis almost always also encompasses formal aspects of works, narratological concepts concerning the structure and forms of a narrative are taken by many as a 'natural' choice. Narratologists did not originally see their work as 'a handmaiden to interpretation'; their theoretically-based taxonomic description of narrative was separated from interpretation, which always also has to do with the content of the narrative (Herman, 2008, p. 30). However, while there are those, even today, who want to keep narratology 'uncontaminated' by other approaches (see, e.g., Kindt, 2009), most narratologists now welcome attempts to combine narratological conceptualization with a whole range of different approaches in contemporary literary scholarship (see, e.g., Nünning, 2009). We can therefore speak of a rapprochement between the narratological analysis of narrative forms and various approaches which stress cultural and historical contextualization in interpretations of literature....

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“…Tellability, as treated by Ochs and Capps, 'is a narrative dimension that varies from rhetorical focus on a highly reportable breech of expectations and its eventual consequences (high tellability) to reporting relatively ordinary events (low tellability) ' (p. 76). In this regard, Norrick (2005) proposes a two-sided notion of tellability. That is, one that encompasses the familiar lower-bounding side of this phenomenon as sufficient to warrant listener interest and the generally ignored upperbounding side where tellability merges into the no longer tellable because they are too personal, too embarrassing, or too frightening.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The following extract from one of the interviews with Jamie provides a flavour of this narrative in action (see also Smith and Sparkes, 2008 When we present Jamie's life to various audiences using selections from his own words as given above, we sense the anxiety, discomfort, and fear it instils in them and their need, at times, to respond to the story. We get a sense that we are relaying a story that due to its content is at Norrick's (2005) upper-bounding side of tellability.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring multiple responses to a chaos narrative

Smith

Sparkes

2011

Health (London)

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Narratives are performative and do things. These include calling on people for a response. This article explores the responses we have witnessed to a chaos narrative told to us by a disabled man that we then shared with different audiences over time.The following four types of response were identified: depression-therapy restitution stories; breakthrough restitution stories; social model stories; and solace stories. Each kind of response is focused on in detail, and their potentials and limitations are considered. The article does not promote one response over another, or seek the last word on the four responses, as the intention is to generate dialogue rather than to finalise. Future possibilities regarding narrative research and responding to stories are also considered.

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The dark side of tellability

Cited by 109 publications

References 0 publications

‘Good’ and ‘bad’ deaths: Narratives and professional identities in interviews with hospice managers

‘Good’ and ‘bad’ deaths: Narratives and professional identities in interviews with hospice managers

Narrative Concepts in the Study of Eighteenth-Century Literature

Exploring multiple responses to a chaos narrative

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