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

Analyzing Narrative Reality (Gubrium & Holstein, 2009) examines how stories are constructed for different purposes in a variety of social situations and aims to provide a framework for analysis "oriented both to the internal and especially to the external organization of stories" (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-"continuously unfolding accounts, whose extensions move in many directions" (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 Shaw's (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. Key Words: Narrative Ethnography, Narrative Environments, Narrative Work, Narrative Reality, Narrative Adequacy, and Qualitative Research Introduction My initial hope, in reading Analyzing Narrative Reality, was that it might offer perspectives that would be valuable to me as a writing teacher seeking to help my students develop more powerful narratives. I also hoped that it could be offered as a resource to those struggling with expanding the horizons of their narratives and help them to determine "what the communication process and its circumstances designate as meaningful and important, together with the various purposes stories serve" (Gubrium & Holstein, 2009, p. 2). While I found some of these expectations realized, I also had the privilege of delving into deep questions and issues involving social construction of stories and how we as humans make meaning of our experiences. Short-Changing Narrative If the conventional idea is that storytellers actively assemble the messages that become story texts, the unfolding and ongoing activeness of the process is frequently shortchanged. (Gubrium & Holstein, 2009, p. xv) As a writing teacher, this statement from Analyzing Narrative Reality certainly rings true. I have often been surprised to observe the amount of difficulty writers have with creating narratives of rich complexity-how often, in fact, the narrative itself appears shortchanged. Of the many students who are referred to me specifically for help with the narrative portions of their qualitative dissertations, most seem to approach the story as a static thing, something that needs to be fit tightly into a box and refused access to air. The magic and messiness of human life and experience is often sanitized to the extent that it has little meaning at all. The writers I work with sometimes appear to neglect the deeper contextual elements that uncover the complexity of a story that is a living thing, dynamic and in continual fluctuation. There is a narrative-but how that story fits into a wider societal framework is undeveloped and consequently seems lifeless. As Gubrium and Holstein (2009) point out: Listeners presume that plots and themes are in place when stories are under consideration. But plots and themes emerge through narrative practice, raising two important questions. In what way is a narrative socially organized, and how is a narrative made meaningful? (p. 227) The primary purpose of the authors in writing this book is to "present a view of narrativity and its storied by-products as operating within society" (Gubrium & Holstein, 2009, p. xv). This provides another level of inquiry around the whole issue of stories- adding to the many questions I already have, not only about the nature of stories, but, from my professional perspective, the issues surrounding the writing of these stories. Who "owns" a story? Is it the person whose experiences are detailed or the one who composes the actual written narrative, choosing the words and structure that make it breathe? …