“…narrative comprehension is among

the earliest powers of mind to appear

in the young child and among the
most widely used forms of organizing
human experience” (Bruner, 1991: 9)

Narrating our reality

Language, literature and culture OJUP2030

“Stories serve an important function in our lives, and

stories are generated by our brains. Our brains turn the
random nature of events and string these into
meaningful narrative. Stories are all about what directly
impinges on our humanity. We see the world in terms of
story, and this creates the world we see” (Hunte &
Golembiewski, 2014: 75).
Opening observation…

… we organize our experience and our memory of human

happenings mainly in the form of narrative — stories, excuses,
myths, reasons for doing and not doing, and so on. Narrative
is a conventional form, transmitted culturally and
constrained by each individual's level of mastery … (Bruner
1991:4)
Ten features of narrative
Modified from Bruner, 1991
1. Narrative diachronicity: A narrative is an account of events
occurring over time… over "human time" rather than abstract or
"clock" time
2. Particularity: Narratives refer to particular happenings… and the
power of a story lies in the meaning given to particulars (for
example, a gift is given – what the gift is is not as important as
giving a gift means)
3. Intentional state entailment: Narratives are about people acting in
a setting, and what happens must be relevant to the intentions of
the characters in that place. What happens must connect with what
a characters believes, desires, theorises, values, and so on… The link
between the character and what happens though should be ‘loose’
– the link cannot be the cause for what happens, but a basis for
interpreting why a character acted as he or she did. Interpretation is
concerned with "reasons" for things happening, rather than strictly
with their "causes,".
4. Hermeneutic composability: this is the difference between what is
expressed in the text and what the text might mean. There is no unique
solution to the meaning of the narrative (balance between “narrative
necessity” & “narrative banalization”)
5. Canonicity and breach: Because of the continual construction and
reconstruction of the past a ‘canon’ of narratives – recognizable
narratives – are formed over time. When a breach occurs it, it means
something… An innovative storyteller might be a powerful figure in a
culture because s/he goes beyond conventional scripts and leads people
to see human happenings in a fresh way.
6. Referentiality: Narrative "truth" is judged by its verisimilitude rather
than its verifiability.
7. Genericness: recognizable types of narrative. Narrative genres represent
different forms of social ways of being (ontology) that invite particular
ways of knowing (epistemology). As such, genres powerfully influence
our modes of thought by creating realities through their plots.
Innovations in genre change the content of imagination and its modus
operandi
8. Normativeness: Because its "tellability" as a narrative is based on a
breach of conventional expectation, narrative is necessarily
normative: A breach presupposes a norm.
9. Context sensitivity and negotiability: A narrative is formed through
the negotiation between the teller's intentions and the background
knowledge of readers… this negotiation is based on a shared sense
of context (we’re in this together) and leads to a sense of
coherence and interdependence (i.e. culture)
10. Narrative accrual: What creates a culture must be a "local" capacity
for adding stories from the past together to form some sort of
continuity into the present. This creates a sense of historical
continuity and a sense of belonging. In turn, individuals can form
their own narratives of deviation while maintaining complicity with
the canon.
How do our minds make sense of stories?
Based on Hunte & Golombiewski, 2014
• The human brain, above all others, has the most developed ability to
extrapolate meaning and implications from stories. Moreover, one of the
great evolutionary advantages of being human is that we don’t need to
actually live through an event to gain the perspective of someone else’s
experience. We can identify a potentially disastrous or beneficial event
because we can recognise these through story, mythology, recount and
other narrative structures describing comparable situations. Moreover,
dangers and opportunities don’t have to be identical, as they would have
to be for a dog or monkey (dogs salivate only to the sound of a bell – not
the sound of a gong). Unlike animals, we can infer meaning from
metaphors. We can translate scenarios into our own lives. We can imagine
ourselves out of our familiar comfort zone… (Hunte & Golembiewski, 2014
p.73)
 Episodic memory
Left hippocampi Right hippocampi

• Processing – focused attention, • Processing – global attention,

functional & physical plane metaphysical, time-place setting,
themes

https://www.neuroscientificallychallenged.com/blog/2014/5/23/know-your-brain-hippocampus
Amygdala - key processor of emotion
• Intersects with hippocampi
• Right amygdala generates
contextual awareness
• Left amygdala generates prosaic
reality, power of immediacy &
imminence, supports vicarious
experience as if the reader was
part of the story
• Moderates the location of the ”I”
or ”me” in any particular story
(ipseity), engages empathy and
ability to see from another
perspective

https://www.britannica.com/science/amygdala
Frontal cortexes
• … are used to inhibit the storytelling
mechanisms in both right and left
hemispheres – to choose the stories
that we immerse ourselves in.
Humans can move beyond the stories
that are linked to our physical survival
to evolve into deeper thinkers.
Storytelling in humans allows for the
survival of ideas and ideologies –
often those that are metaphysical,
abstract and complex. This ability to
choose the stories that are relevant to
humanity has given us the unique
capability of abstraction, imagination
and even vision. (Hunte &
Golombiewski, 2014: 75)

https://www.thescienceofpsychotherapy.com/prefrontal-cortex/
References
• Bruner, J. (1991). The narrative construction of reality. Critical inquiry,
18(1), 1-21.
• Le Hunte, B., & Golembiewski, J. A. (2014). Stories have the power to
save us: A neurological framework for the imperative to tell stories.
Arts and Social Sciences Journal, 5(2), 73-77.