Situating Narrative Construction within Social Dynamics and Context to Create Complex Meaning: A Review of the Book Analyzing Narrative Reality

摘要

Analyzing Narrative Reality (Gubrium u26 Holstein, 2009) examines how stories are constructed for different purposes in a variety of social situations and aims to provide a framework for analysis u22oriented both to the internal and especially to the external organization of storiesu22 (p. 2). The authors are keen to create an understanding of how stories emerge and why they are constructed, confident that these factors are vital to creating good stories-u22continuously unfolding accounts, whose extensions move in many directionsu22 (p. 228) and that go beyond the boundaries of text. The book covers narrative reality, narrative work, narrative environments and narrative adequacy partly by using Stanley from Shawu27s (1930) study, The Jack-Roller, to examine how narratives are socially constructed. Empirical examples and an emphasis on interdisciplinary endeavors are intentionally utilized to create an accessible book for readers from a variety of disciplines.