Life Storying in Oral History von Jarmila Mildorf | Fictional Contamination and Literary Complexity | ISBN 9783111073187

Life Storying in Oral History

Fictional Contamination and Literary Complexity

von Jarmila Mildorf
Buchcover Life Storying in Oral History | Jarmila Mildorf | EAN 9783111073187 | ISBN 3-11-107318-1 | ISBN 978-3-11-107318-7

Life Storying in Oral History

Fictional Contamination and Literary Complexity

von Jarmila Mildorf

This book proposes the concept of „fictional contamination“ to capture the fact that fictionalization and literary complexity can be found across different kinds of narrative. Exploring conversational storytelling in oral history and other interviews from socionarratological perspectives, the book systematically discusses key narrative features such as story templates, dialogue, double deixis, focalization or perspective-taking and mind representation as well as special narrative forms including second-person narration and narratives of vicarious experience. These features and forms attest to storytellers’ linguistic creativity and serve the function of involving listeners by making stories more interesting. Shared by fictional and conversational narratives at a basic level, they can bring conversational stories closer to fiction and potentially compromise their credibility if used extensively. Detailed analyses of broad-ranging examples are undertaken against a rich narrative-theoretical background drawn from the fields of narratology, linguistics, oral history, life storytelling, psychology and philosophy. The book is of interest to scholars and students working in these fields and anyone fascinated by the richness of conversational storytelling.