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Article published In: Applied Narratology
Edited by Sjoerd-Jeroen Moenandar, Laura Karttunen and Anna Ovaska
[Narrative Inquiry 34:2] 2024
► pp. 281–306

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Applying the approach of narrative agency

A dialogue between theory, reading group practices, and analysis of participants’ experiences

ORCiD logo with link | University of Turku
ORCiD logo with link | University of Turku
ORCiD logo with link | University of Turku
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Published online: 13 February 2024
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https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.22029.kin
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.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Applying the theory of narrative agency and metanarrativity in reading group practices
  • Research design, methods, and narrative agency analysis
  • Juha’s reading group experience: The critical potential of narrative awareness
  • Oskari’s reading group experience: The enriching power of narrative imagination in life-storying
  • Milla’s reading group experience: The multifacetedness of narrative dialogicality in practice
  • Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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