Narrative and Beyond

In "Narrative and Beyond," a teacher, who has also been active setting up interviews with Holocaust survivors, reflects on the role literary study can play in fostering the listening process. While recognizing the difference between survivor interviews and specifically medical relationships, his essay argues for the personal as well as strictly medicinal benefit to both sides when life stories are elicited and an alliance is established in which storyteller and listener participate on an equal basis. The care giver may find herself in the position of vulnerable observer listening to passion narratives about grave illness and disaster that cast doubt on the idea of a "sovereign consciousness." The essay warns, at the same time, against easy assumptions that the study of art can be mobilized for empathy training. It ends by suggesting that however important the narrative component of literature is, a close attention to other literary features such as figurative language could yield further insights for the developing discipline of narrative medicine as an endeavor at once clinical and compassionate.