A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book
Introduction: Challenges and Prospects of Narrative Hermeneutics in Tumultuous Times
Authors: Meretoja Hanna, Freeman Mark
Editors: Meretoja Hanna, Freeman Mark
Publishing place: New York
Publication year: 2023
Book title : The Use and Abuse of Stories: New Directions in Narrative Hermeneutics
Series title: Oxford Explorations in Narrative Psychology
First page : 1
Last page: 12
Number of pages: 12
ISBN: 978-0-19-757102-6
eISBN: 978-0-19-757105-7
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197571026.003.0001
Web address : https://academic.oup.com/book/46058/chapter-abstract/404537372?redirectedFrom=fulltext
In relation to what some have dubbed the “post-truth” era, this volume seeks to address the use and abuse of stories, focusing especially on some of the dangers associated with narrative interpretation. At the heart of this chapter, as well as those to follow, are the questions: How, and why, did this putative era emerge? What role has narrative interpretation played in this process, and what role might narrative theorists play in righting the current course, or at least providing conceptual tools for thinking about it? Despite the fact that some may associate narrative hermeneutics with this ostensible movement beyond truth, it is argued herein that, on the contrary, this perspective on interpretation can serve as a vitally important vehicle for redressing some of the problems at hand. The volume has four parts: Politics of Storytelling, Understanding the Self, Understanding the Other, and Narrative Practices. Taken together, the inquiries found in these parts of the volume bear within them an invitation to dialogue—about the use and abuse of stories, about the value of narrative hermeneutics, and about the urgency of speaking to the interpretive challenges posed by contemporary culture and society.