La fabbrica delle storie

by Jerome Bruner

Il testo presenta tre contributi al campo della "psicologia culturale", che studia il modo in cui la cultura e la psiche si costituiscono reciprocamente nel corso della storia individuale e collettiva. L'approccio di Bruner alla psicologia culturale si incentra soprattutto sui modi in cui la psicologia 'popolare' contribuisce alla costruzione quotidiana dei significati. Secondo l'autore ogni cultura crea la propria psicologia popolare, la quale viene costruita ed espressa attraverso narrazioni.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Education, Writing, Philosophy, Law, Essays

134 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Jerome Seymour Bruner is an American psychologist predominately in the fields of developmental, educational, and legal psychology, and is one of the pioneers of the cognitive psychology movement in the United States. He is a senior research fellow at the New York University School of Law. He received his B.A. in 1937 from Duke University and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1941. During World War II, Bruner served on the Psychological Warfare Division of the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force Europe committee under Eisenhower, researching social psychological phenomena.

Reviews

[Μαριάννα Κουμαριανού · Rating 5 out of 5]

Εξαιρετικό ανάγνωσμα. Η τέχνη της αφήγησης. Μιλάει για όλα όσα βάζουμε σε λέξεις. Είτε πρόκειται για ιστορίες με μυθοπλασία είτε πρόκειται για οποιοδήποτε άλλο αφήγημα ή ανάγκη για αυτό. Καταπιάνεται διεξοδικά με τη λογοτεχνία, τις δικαστικές υποθέσεις και το αφήγημα του εαυτού. Ειδικά το τελευταίο σε απογειώνει! Τι θα ήμασταν χωρίς αυτά που περιγράφουμε και προβάλλουμε με λόγια για εμάς; Πώς συνθέτουμε τα στοιχεία του εαυτού; Πώς η διάρκεια του εαυτού στον χρόνο (η μνήμη, οι τωρινές συνθήκες και εμπειρίες και οι επιθυμίες και προβολές για το πώς θα είμαστε μελλοντικά) συνθέτει και επηρεάζει το αφήγημα αυτό; Ήταν καταπληκτικό!

[Bones Kendall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the crystallization of many years of thinking about the problems associated with being human. We must all in many ways admit to Bruner's argument's application to our own lives.

My students, the ones who read it and pay attention to my lectures, usually get his points about narrative and find parts of the book relevant to themselves.

Some students mention the vocabulary level is high but, because the book is so short, that difficulty is manageable with a dictionary.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 5 out of 5]

RIP educational psychologist Jerome Bruner, who died yesterday at age 100. Influenced initially by Piaget, he helped shape educational development thinking and the ways school were constructed for decades. Relevance, the arts, play, things largely dismissed by education think tanks today, all were central in Bruner's thinking.

This book is one of two that were high influential to me in the late eighties and nineties, focused on the power of storytelling in life, literature, the law. He wrote this book at 90, far past when anyone would write anything lucid or influential, of course, and it is great.

The impetus for Bruner's work in narrative was in part his participation in a late eighties Harvard narrative study group including such luminaries as Clifford Geertz and Robert Coles, who also looked closely at the importance of narrative in research, in virtually every discipline, and every day life.

[Zachary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bruner has a lot of interesting insights in these pages that make for a fascinating engagement with some of the fundamental questions surrounding why human beings tell stories, what their function is, and how we pattern our lives after them. His insights are aided significantly by his easygoing style, which is clear and engaging and helpfully walks you through the overview of ideas and theories that he is illustrating here. The problem, I think, is that this style lulls you into a kind of casual mood of understanding and appreciation that is then skewed some by the concluding chapter, which has a lot of really smart things to argue that do literally follow from the arguments of the preceding chapters but are stylistically a divergence from the simpler manner that pervaded the earlier pages. Basically, Bruner makes the first parts of the book real easy to understand and then hits you with some great, brilliant insights that turn that style on its head in the end. It's still an engaging and overall easy read, but the end can throw you for a bit of a loop if you're not expecting it.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Parts of Jerome Bruner's biography are naturally spliced into his investigation of the places where narrative give shape to the psychology and sociology of human beings. It is fitting, too, that they expand upon my very vague notion of who he was from my education program, and lend his personal insights more weight in seemingly fiction-free storytelling in the courtroom and in medical treatment centres. Of course, the parts I was most interested in are the possible worlds of novels and plays, where the real world gets created because someone at some point in history wondered "how cool would it be to make all these random events in our lives make sense?"

[Eliezer Sneiderman · Rating 5 out of 5]

According to Bruner, it is not Cogito ergo sum, but, rather, narrare ergo sum. Man is the only animal that can tell stories. The narrative is what defines us.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this for possible use in a class I'm planning, to sort of approach the topic Why do we tell stories... it was really interesting! And not overly scholarly. I'm of course only interested in literature, not law or life, but the chapters on narrative's role in those realms were informative too. Dudes, in fiction, it's all about the peripeteia, and the road, not the inn. Of course, of course...

[Jalaluddin Abdullah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This gem has quickly become one of my favorite Jerome Bruner books, a brief yet succulently satisfying account of how we use stories to make sense of our lives. I find it affirming many of the understandings of human social processes that have become invaluable in my work, particularly the notion that through narrative we make ourselves up as we go along. As Bruner observes, "We constantly construct and reconstruct ourselves to meet the needs of the situations we encounter," doing so "with the guidance of our memories of the past and our hopes...for the future." To me, our ability to make stories about ourselves (creating a "selfhood" along the way) is both invigorating and inspiring, as is this elegant little book that studies, honors, and celebrates such a capacity—well done Mr. Bruner!

[David Witka · Rating 4 out of 5]

For the most part it's a good read. I find the ideas in this book more abstract than concrete, if that makes any sense, but due to my attention span it makes it a little hard to follow. I will probably have to read this book a few more times before I can appreciate it's full breadth.

There's a good section in here on how trial lawyers use narrative. It made me wonder if all good lawyers should employ a good writer to help them with their defense and closing statements. Either way, it was a good follow up to other books I recently read which dealt with this subject: The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative, The Stranger, and To Kill a Mockingbird.

[ekaterine · Rating 3 out of 5]

read this for school and ended up enjoying it thoroughly. an especially fascinating investigation into how stories and narrative shape our reality today; i really enjoyed Bruner’s perspective surrounding narrative, especially in relation to law and life in the courtroom and i’ll definitely be checking out more of his work in the future. would highly recommend for those who are fans of literature, fans of the art of storytelling / narrative, or for those wanting to learn something new!

[Paul Groos · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very clever book by an extremely intelligent author. That’s why this isn’t an easy or light read. However the insights in the relationship between narrative, self, law, medicine, science and culture are profound and very interesting. The high information density makes fast reading impossible, so it took a while, but I learned a lot.

[Hugo Martínez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tiene puntos interesantes: reflexiona acerca de la importancia del relato y de la narrativa en la sociedad y en el proceso de construcción de la propia identidad. Pero está escrito con un lenguaje -a mi juicio- bastante pedante, con múltiples referencias a autores clásicos y expresiones en latín que parecen buscar más la pomposidad que la claridad.

[Nat · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel it addressed the topic at hand very well. The insights on narration and autobiography were fresh and well-cut. I only wish a bit more information and detail was added to the topic of literary narration itself.

[Annalisa Ponti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forse è un modo inappropriato per avvicinare Bruner, ma certamente mi è venuta voglia di approfondire. Il volumetto risente della sua occasionalità e meriterebbe una curatela, anche in considerazione della notevole densità del primo testo.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re down for analyzing story telling and how the way we tell stories and the stories we tell reflect on our culture and ourselves, give it a go! Insightful :)

[Robin-warren Heydenberk · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a review of this book states: " our wisest psychologist {Bruner} reveals the centrality of narrative in the most critical spheres of life."

[Maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. I had to read it for an exam at uni (I'm studying Educational Sciences).
It deals with the importance of narration in life, law and litterature.

[Abigail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can’t recommend this book enough for anyone interested in how stories shape our reality and the important role they play in society.

[Susan Dietz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought-provoking reflection on how stories work in our lives.

[Ame · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una breve considerazione su ciò che "narrare" significa sotto aspetti non inerenti solamente alla letteratura. Probabilmente troppo difficile per me.

[Brent · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a short, non-fiction book by an aging psychologist (he's like 94 now.) In it he argues that the fundemental unit of life is the story. He traces it's use in law and literature as well as how it relates to our interpersonal communication. I can't recommend it enough.

[Todd · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a classic I finally pulled off the shelf to read. It's another one of those books you really should read once a year or so. Finding it today turned a boring Saturday afternoon into a narrative adventure.

[Joelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't as thrilled with this book as my faculty advisor or my classmates. However, I enjoyed the way he makes the analogy between law and literature.

[Linda Hayashi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm only on the first footnote and I am already grateful to be reading this.

[Rebekah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some truly great insights on the use of narrative in society. His insights on narrative's role in law was especially insightful.

[Mar · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked the concept of how narrative shapes life, but didn't enjoy the writing style. Not as interesting as it appeared on the outside. Chapters 3 and 4 were the most interesting.

[Brandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good, but not as good as I expected from Bruner.