Quotes About Narrative

As one gets older, the story of Hansel and Gretel becomes more interesting only when told from the point of view of the witch.

Say what you will about it, Hell is story friendly. If you want a compelling story, put your protagonist among the damned. The mechanisms of hell are nicely attuned to the mechanisms of narrative. Not so the pleasures of Paradise. Paradise is not a story. It's about what happens when the stories are over.

One of the signs of a dysfunctional narrative is that we cannot leave it behind, and we cannot put it to rest, because it does not, finally, give us the explanation we need to enclose it.

When all the details fit in perfectly, something is probably wrong with the story.

As the poet says, all happy couples are alike, it's the unhappy ones who create the stories. I'm no longer a story. Happiness has made me fade into real life.

My narrative may be invaded by inaccuracy and confusion; but if I live no longer, I will, at least, live to complete it. What but ambiguities, abruptnesses, and dark transitions, can be expected from the historian who is, at the same time, the sufferer of these disasters?

Make what use of the tale you shall think proper. If it be communicated to the world, it will inculcate the duty of avoiding deceit. It will exemplify the force of early impressions, and show, the immeasurable evils that flow from an erroneous or imperfect discipline.

And so a character named Red Devil seemed a proxy voice, speaking for everybody, when he would cackle hysterically and yell out, "Manteno, 1963. I'm history!" Manteno was the state mental hospital but nothing beyond that was elaborated. To be history in America doesn't mean to be recorded, noted, added to the narrative, but precisely the opposite, to be gone, banished, left behind. To be history is to be cut from the story.

life is a bad reason for including a character in a story.

Don't forget - no one else sees the world the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell.

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To begin my life with the beginning of my life, I record that I was born (as I have been informed and believe) on a Friday, at twelve o'clock at night. It was remarked that the clock began to strike, and I began to cry, simultaneously.

Marley was dead, to begin with ... This must be distintly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate.

Mr Pinch accordingly, after turning over the leaves of his book with as much care as if they were living and highly cherished creatures, made his own selection, and began to read.

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show

Besides which, all that I could have said of the Story to any purpose, I had endeavoured to say in it.

From the outset Dickens seemed to take charge even though he was younger than Seymour and less well known. His narrative input seemed to drive the content of the comic plates, which eventually led to the story becoming the main point of interest and with the death of Seymour the plates were reduced to two an instalment whereas the text increased to 16,000 words. Dickens succeeded where his predecessors had failed, making the print more important than the illustration.

I have nothing else to tell; unless, indeed, I were to confess that no one can ever believe this narrative, in the reading, more than I have believed it in the writing.

Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show. To

Stories, like all beings, have a life span. In their youth, their immune system is strong, but as time goes on they become increasingly unable to withstand the contrary evidence and experiences that pile up. In the end, I could no longer believe my own story. Who I had to be to maintain it—cynical, dismissive, patronizing, holding back from new experiences—became intolerable.

We do not have a new story yet.

Consider a favorite story—even a story from your own life. On a piece of paper, express this story in three ways. First, draw a straight line from left to right, with hash marks to indicate moments in time. Create a simple chronology: "just one thing after another." Then create a series of circles, showing recurring patterns in the story. Then create a series of triangles, showing trios of characters or ideas at different stages of the story.

All humans are Scheherazades: we die each morning if we don't have a good story to tell.

"The Ancient Mariner" — This poem would not have taken so well if it had been called "The Old Sailor"...

Photographs are wordless history.