tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31265055.post2616485726635681522..comments2023-09-20T14:18:32.900+02:00Comments on Obscene Desserts: How do you remember?JCWoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31265055.post-58474884940420847672008-07-16T18:27:00.000+02:002008-07-16T18:27:00.000+02:00I find psychological narrative terribly reductive....I find psychological narrative terribly reductive. Most novels, other than "Ulysses" perhaps, cannot manage the vast number of narrative strands that comprise our lives without total loss of control. And I've not been abel to get through "Ulysses" either.<BR/>Rather than being a purely ego-driven enterprise, the making of narrative may be part of a drive to "make meaning" but to me, that is something similar to believing in the existence of a Divine Narrator". I don't and, in fact, I can't.<BR/>Even the best "textual narrators" are not telling stories of complete lives; occasionally, particularly vivid, compelling and RELATIVELY complex narratives may tell us something of ourselves or someone else or society etc. And can be of great value for that. But the "whole" of experience remains elusive or even mysterious. Perhaps it is in that way that postmodernist texts are more "truthful". And no less reflective of ideology. If narratives are implicitly deceitful, perhaps they are not less significant for that.<BR/><BR/>Love this blog, as I said to "The Husband" on an earlier post.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31265055.post-33611261227239729452008-07-07T18:56:00.000+02:002008-07-07T18:56:00.000+02:00Heather,Thanks for the comment. There's a huge bod...Heather,<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the comment. There's a huge body of work on narrative, be it textual or psychological, and it's a bit difficult to find a way in. The Strawson essay which I linked to in the post is a good point of departure because he mentions the most important names (Bruner, McIntyre, Dennett) which you could then follow up.<BR/><BR/>Anjahttps://obscenedesserts.blogspot.com/https://www.blogger.com/profile/14637377045831848328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31265055.post-42192470467175074592008-07-07T01:14:00.000+02:002008-07-07T01:14:00.000+02:00Very enjoyable and thought-provoking post.I'm not ...Very enjoyable and thought-provoking post.<BR/>I'm not sure if what people mean by "narrative" -in terms of creating an ongoing sense of self - means the same thing as "narrative" - in the sense of a coherent developing story.<BR/>But I don't know much about the debates and would need to read something about it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31265055.post-63805492159157509502008-07-06T23:53:00.000+02:002008-07-06T23:53:00.000+02:00No apologies necessary: we are a very collaborativ...No apologies necessary: we are a very collaborative venture. <BR/><BR/>Being confused for the other is, in some way, a compliment.JCWoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31265055.post-38914102532105830062008-07-06T15:45:00.000+02:002008-07-06T15:45:00.000+02:00Oops. Must remember to look at who is writing what...Oops. Must remember to look at who is writing what here. One would think the obvious stylistic differences would be something of a clue... <BR/><BR/>Apologies to The Wife.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31265055.post-12682542778526252792008-07-06T15:12:00.000+02:002008-07-06T15:12:00.000+02:00Canada: I'm sad to hear that you deleted your resp...Canada: I'm sad to hear that you deleted your response to my 4 July post. I, for one, would have cared. <BR/><BR/>I'm glad you resisted the temptation in responding to The Wife. <BR/><BR/>Thanks for coming by.JCWoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02585322642151280666noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31265055.post-65895801873298423322008-07-06T12:41:00.000+02:002008-07-06T12:41:00.000+02:00Thank you both for you comments, with a comment in...Thank you both for you comments, with a comment in return to Francis:<BR/><BR/>I don't think that "human universals" and "mundane aspects of human experience" necessarily exclude each other. Eating, hunting, mating, giving birth, dying, fighting, integrating the young, ousting the other ... these are all fairly everyday experiences, but absolutely universal with it, no?<BR/><BR/>And as to particulars: yes, I agree, and I suppose these local differences are what people find fascinating about folklore. But then again, when you look at these differences more closely - don't many of them (e.g. fertility rituals, carnival traditions, solstice celebrations) boil down to universal realities?<BR/><BR/>Anjahttps://obscenedesserts.blogspot.com/https://www.blogger.com/profile/14637377045831848328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31265055.post-12452363550141781622008-07-06T01:51:00.000+02:002008-07-06T01:51:00.000+02:00I think you need a term other than "human universa...I think you need a term other than "human universals", given that many folk tales are designed to shed light on and celebrate the more mundane aspects of human existence. And some are based on a collection of "vivid particulars" linked together in the loosest of narrative structures.<BR/><BR/>I'm also uneasy with Strawson's counterposition of episodic and chronological. It might be helpful for me to read the essay in full. Do you have an electronic copy you could share?Francis Sedgemorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12310279298255158895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31265055.post-88195757297078195842008-07-06T00:31:00.000+02:002008-07-06T00:31:00.000+02:00...Need I add: despite the irony?...Need I add: despite the irony?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31265055.post-6177979242324264622008-07-05T22:07:00.000+02:002008-07-05T22:07:00.000+02:00Excellent post. I recently came to the same conclu...Excellent post. I recently came to the same conclusions regarding personal narrative. I find such narrativity uninteresting and mostly dishonest; an activity I indulge in because I too am extremely nervous in company and self-conscious when writing. <BR/><BR/>I've more or less perfected my "performance" so that no one believes me when I confess to blowing a chatty smokescreen, though they seem to believe whatever else I tell or write them which strikes me as very odd.<BR/><BR/>Yesterday I wrote a response to your Independence Day post but deleted it thinking, "who the fuck cares?". I'm tempted to do it this time around but won't because I want to commiserate and thank you for cogently articulating and adding to my clarity on the issue.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com