The Use and Abuse of Stories: New Directions in Narrative Hermeneutics

Argues that 'narrative hermeneutics' serves as a vitally important vehicle for addressing and redressing current social and political problems. Hanna Meretoja and Mark Freeman have gathered an interdisciplinary group of esteemed authors to explore how interpretation is relevant to the current discussions in narrative studies and to the broader debate that revolves around issues of truth, facts, and narrative. Addressing topics from the dangers of political narratives to questions of truth in medical and psychiatric practice, they emphasize that narrative is a cultural meaning-making practice that is integral to how we make sense of who we are and who we could be.

"We live in a world that is increasingly defined by a contest of incommensurable narratives. This sit-uation has emerged over a period of time shaped by the rise of populism, the increasing polarization of societies, what has been dubbed as "post-truth" politics, and most recently Russia's war in Ukraine. The internet is replete with narratives that contest basic facts about climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the atrocities that Russia is currently committing in Ukrain"--

"We live in a world that is increasingly defined by a contest of incommensurable narratives. This sit-uation has emerged over a period of time shaped by the rise of populism, the increasing polarization of societies, what has been dubbed as "post-truth" politics, and most recently Russia's war in Ukraine. The internet is replete with narratives that contest basic facts about climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the atrocities that Russia is currently committing in Ukrain"--