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Rendering Me into We: A Review of The Crisis of Narration - Front Porch Republic

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That consummate political realist and Yes, Minister character Sir Humphrey Appleby once remarked: “the less you intend to do about something, the more you have to talk about it.” Byung-Chul Han’s recent essay brought this line to mind, arguing that even as we are awash in a sea of “narratives,” we live in a “crisis of narration” (vii). The core conviction of the essay is embodied in the author’s distinction between “Narrative” or “Narration” and “storytelling/storyselling.” The latter, Byung-Chul argues, are ersatz narratives whose central purpose is to sell you something. That “something” could be a political candidate, cultural cachet, or consumer goods, but storytelling inevitably becomes “storyselling.” When I was a kid, I remember being suspicious that Al Gore’s flannel shirt was a component of the narrative sales pitch for his political campaign in Tennessee. More recently, here in rural Montana, I asked my students to imagine that they were running for office on a fiscal respons

Rendering Me into We: A Review of The Crisis of Narration - Front Porch Republic Skip to main content Skip to footer Rendering Me into We: A Review of The Crisis of Narration Disagreements aside, however, Byung-Chul's argument remains a valuable one: the cultures of consumption that rule the modern world are death to the cultures of community that give life meaning. Aaron Weinacht May 16, 2024 May 16, 2024 The Nightstand The Nightstand 6 comments Tell Someone: That consummate political realist and Yes, Minister character Sir Humphrey Appleby once remarked: “the less you intend to do about some

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