Oldal 16 [16]
OCR
Part I. Interdisciplinary Approach to Storytelling | 15 past to present. According to Heller, although autobiographical narratives are often written with the purpose of gaining a better understanding of oneself, an individual can never know oneself completely; autobiographical narratives can therefore only partially contribute to self-knowledge. Heller sees autobiographical narrative as fiction. Already at the moment of the event those present form interpretations of what happened, and later, when the experience is retrieved, the interpretations stored in memory are incorporated into the narrative told in the present - although these interpretations may later be revised. Self-narration becomes inauthentic, according to Heller, when the narrator manipulates the storytelling for external reasons (e.g., political or material interests) or for self-justification (e.g., by over-emphasizing evidence of victimhood). In this case, the narrative is not a representation, but the narrator’s presentation through narrative. Narrative construction is crucial in individual knowledge production and retrieval, in social communication, and in the cultural heritage of a group. Bruner (1996) argues that human learning is embedded in a cultural context since the mind cannot exclude it from the process of meaningmaking. Individual knowledge constructions are created through the narrative interpretation of the world’s phenomena through human interactions with cultural symbols. This system of symbols is known, preserved, developed and passed on to future generations - thus ensuring the transmission of culture and the creation of cultural narratives. Individuals define their place in the world through their own narratives, and cultural narratives provide a framework for individual actions and identity formation. Commonalities are often found between individual narratives, especially when the individuals are members of the same group. Individual stories are also linked in different ways to the story frameworks found in a given culture (Laszld, 1999). Individual narratives are relevant to the identity of a group, as the memories that define the group are manifested in the form of stories. These narratives play an important role in maintaining group identity and preserving cultural memory (Assmann, 1999). Such stories can be anecdotes and reminiscences of kinship within a family, but also national sagas or individual oral histories interpreted by historians with the help of external sources. Identification with these stories strengthens group identity, reinforces important characteristics of the group and creates a community of remembrance. In all human cultures, there is a dominant worldview that determines how meaning can be made, and within this system are countless shared and individual stories. Repetitions can be detected in these narratives, but they all have a fixed point which Heller (2015), following Assmann, calls cultural memory. The shared individual stories fit into the same common narrative, creating a dominant worldview. Cultural memory, with its many stories, further influences individuals, who have the opportunity to identify with the heroes of the dominant narratives shared among the group. The subjective
