Endless reviewed Living Narrative by Elinor Ochs
Review of 'Living Narrative' on 'GoodReads'
5 stars
A truly excellent book. Blending psychology, sociology, discourse analysis, and philosophy, Dr. Ochs provides a broad, rich look at narrative as the tool mankind universally uses to shape and make sense of reality, proposing a multi-dimensional grade that is used not to define "what is narrative" but rather, to determine the narrative qualities at work in a given discourse. The text discusses narrative for sense-making, for planning, and as our minds develop from child to adult and the changes apparent in the narrative we employ. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on narrative and prayer, which both considers narrative in prayer and also the elements of prayer in all narrative. This is a book worth reading and studying, with principles that could be of use to anyone. Although it takes an academic and theoretical approach, it is grounded in real (and interesting) examples from adults, children, the autistic, agoraphobic, and more, …
A truly excellent book. Blending psychology, sociology, discourse analysis, and philosophy, Dr. Ochs provides a broad, rich look at narrative as the tool mankind universally uses to shape and make sense of reality, proposing a multi-dimensional grade that is used not to define "what is narrative" but rather, to determine the narrative qualities at work in a given discourse. The text discusses narrative for sense-making, for planning, and as our minds develop from child to adult and the changes apparent in the narrative we employ. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on narrative and prayer, which both considers narrative in prayer and also the elements of prayer in all narrative. This is a book worth reading and studying, with principles that could be of use to anyone. Although it takes an academic and theoretical approach, it is grounded in real (and interesting) examples from adults, children, the autistic, agoraphobic, and more, and is quite accessible. It suggests that our daily, conversational narratives, narratives of personal experience, deserve understanding at least as much as the polished narratives that have been the principle studies of narratology.