GSE Publications
Title
Document Type
Book Chapter
Date of this Version
January 2001
Abstract
Telling a story about oneself can sometimes transform that self. Sitting with friends and describing recent experiences, a narrator often reinforces and sometimes re-creates what sort of person he or she is. Sitting with a therapist and narrating their life's experiences, clients can sometimes realize who they are and who they want to be. Noting such transformative acts of narration, many have proposed that autobiographical stories do more than describe a preexisting self. Sometimes narrators can change who they are, in part, by telling stories about themselves.
COinS
Date Posted: 13 July 2007
This document has been peer reviewed.
Comments
Reprinted by permission of the Publisher. From Stanton Wortham, Narratives in Action: A Strategy for Research and Analysis, New York: Teachers College Press, © 2001 by Teachers College, Columbia University. All rights reserved.