[lit-ideas] Re: narrative forms and political processes

Eric Dean: "applying a narrative form" to the political
process. ...I think the choices people make are based
on what they think the next episode should be, or what
they want it to be, in the on-going, improvised
drama(s) we're all constantly enacting.  All the
rational analysis we do serves only to furnish the
props, the set and the definition of the situation in
which we're to improvise the next episode


Eric Yost: To expand on Mr. Dean's thesis, I offer a
quibble, suggesting that what he means by "narrative
form" is actually "narrative expectation."

There is a profound difference between
"narrative form" (a.k.a. "narrative structure") and
one's "expectation" of the narrative.

As an analogy to jazz, consider "narrative structure"
to be the riffs and runs a jazz musician learns over
the years, the sequences of chordal progressions and
transpositions that guide that musician through an
improvisation. The "narrative structure" of the jazz
musician -- like a prop or set definitions -- guides
the musician through the performance. People often
recognize different jazz artists by their narrative
structure, and innovations in jazz are often linked to
new or original narrative structural techniques.

In politics, people might compare the "narrative
structures" offered by JFK, in explaining the botched
Bay of Pigs invasion, to that offered by Reagan, in
explaining the Iran-Contra affair -- and find
remarkable *similarities* in the narrative structures.

Narrative expectations, on the other hand, differ from
narrative structures and could be classed into:

*Genre expectations - some people want the formula of a
romance or detective story; others are delighted when a
genre "is turned on its head," and the private
investigator hero loses, or the "bodice-ripper" ends
in  real sorrow.

*Style expectations - some people expect narrative to
be consistent; others are delighted when the narrative
voice disintegrates (think Beckett novels), refuses to
be fixed (think nouveau roman), or becomes increasingly
ironized (think Ford's _The Good Soldier_).

*Thematic expectations - some like comedy; others
tragedy; others a fine blend of both or a seemingly
neutral stance to theme.

In politics, people might like or dislike a populist
President who suddenly reveals himself or herself as an
intellectual, or vice versa. Clinton, for example,
started as a populist innovator and ended as "slick
Willy." Similarly, nobody had the same narrative
expectations of Reagan's "Iran-Contra Defense" as they
did of JFK's Bay of Pigs press conference.

All the best,
Eric






------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html

Other related posts: