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Abstract In this article, we discuss a dialogue between narrative theory, reading group practices, and analysis of reading group participants’ experiences. Hanna Meretoja’s theory of narrative agency has informed us in developing a new reading group model that aims to enhance the participants’ narrative agency, and, in turn, the analysis of the reading group experiences provides us with new knowledge on the reading group model, as well as on the theoretical approach. We explore narrative agency analysis as a tool to analyze interviews, and our analysis of three participants’ experiences illustrates how narrative agency can manifest itself in various forms. It also demonstrates that the enhanced ability to navigate narrative environments can be highly meaningful on a personal level. The article suggests that, despite its challenges, this kind of research approach, combining theory and practice, enriches and expands the possibilities of literary studies.

Abstract This paper advances the field of narratives by focusing on the narratives of personal experience disclosed by students with mental health conditions, in particular depression, anxiety and borderline personality disorder, in medical consultations. I draw on sociolinguistic and discourse-analytic approaches to the analysis of narratives in interaction, viewing language as a tool for constructing social reality, and examine the content, structural properties and functions of the stories (Labov & Waletzky, 1967; De Fina & Georgakopoulou, 2011). Engaging in self-disclosure and sharing stories of stressful and traumatic experience in medical consultations allows the students (1) to explain symptoms and interpret causes of their current health problems, (2) manage accountability, and (3) confront and cope with their painful experience and stigma.

Abstract This article presents an exercise in applied narratology within the context of intensive care nursing, specifically the writing of diaries by nurses for patients to fill in memory gaps and alleviate trauma. The article discusses narrative from three perspectives: (1) as nursing practice, resulting in patient diaries with narrative characteristics and purposes; (2) as analysis of this practice, in a study coupling narrative and nursing theory and practice; and (3) as the application of narratological concepts into practice through dialogues with nurses, with the aim of transferring insights gained from the analysis and enabling nurses’ reflection on their positions, practices and power as narrators for patients. The article argues that narratology can be operationalized for nursing work, and there are compelling reasons for why it should, which necessitate methodological reflexivity and mutual curiosity, trust, and learning, and considerations about how far the remit of the narratologist, as a non-expert, extends.

Abstract Computational recognition of narratives, if successful, would find innumerable applications with large digitized datasets. Systematic identification of narratives in the text flow could significantly contribute to such pivotal questions as where, when, and how narratives are employed. This paper discusses an approach to extract narratives from two datasets, Finnish parliamentary records (1980–2021) and oral history interviews with former Finnish MPs (1988–2018). Our study was based on an iterative approach, proceeding from original expert readings to a rule-based, computational approach that was elaborated with the help of annotated samples and annotation scheme. Annotated samples and computationally found extracts were compared, and a good correspondence was found. In this paper, we exhibit and compare the results from annotation and rule-based approach, and discuss examples of correctly and incorrectly found narrative sections. We consider that all attempts at recognizing and extracting narratives are definition dependent, and feed back to narrative theory.

Abstract Non-fictional narratives have an open-ended character that projects roles and values to those who participate in them. Narrative participation, in turn, entails narrative assessment and identification processes, through which adherence to values and positions may fail or be achieved. In the analysis of interviews with university students across Turkey, we draw on Fisher’s narrative paradigm to focus on how our participants carry out assessments of narrative credibility. To elucidate narrative coherence and fidelity, we take inspiration from an argumentative-rhetorical perspective, and focus specifically on the relationship among the criteria identified in the literature on narrative assessment. Our study of interviewee evaluations of COVID-19 narratives confirms the use of the coherence criteria, calls into question the fidelity criteria, and highlights the relevance of identification as a basic process for fidelity assessments. We conclude by discussing our limitations and directions for further research.

Abstract Individuals create both personal and culturally shared meaning through narratives; however, sparse research has explored the specific ways in which individuals might use such cultural narratives in creating meaning from developmentally important experiences. In this study, we examine how emerging adults narrate positive romantic relationships, both because emerging adulthood is critical for the development of intimacy and because romantic relationship narratives are pervasive in cultural media. Thematic analysis of 31 narratives from mostly European-descent students attending a private liberal arts university in the Southeast US (mean age 19; 16 self-identified females) revealed three major narrative arcs, Love Grows, Firecrackers and Fairytale, which varied in coherence, coda, and mutuality of the relationship, but did not differ by gender. Further examination and discussion of these narratives suggest how emerging adults are making sense of their first romantic relationships in ways that inform efforts to educate and intervene to promote healthy and positive relationships.