storytelling
A narrative creates community; a novel, however, is born of the lonely, isolated individual. A novel psychologizes and interprets, but a narrative proceeds descriptively: ‘The most extraordinary things, marvelous things, are related with the greatest accuracy, but the psychological connections among the events are not forced on the reader.’
Byung-Chul Han • The Crisis of Narration
Forgoing explanation is essential to true storytelling.
Byung-Chul Han • The Crisis of Narration
The aura is narrative because it is impregnated by distance.
Byung-Chul Han • The Crisis of Narration
A storyteller does not inform or explain. In fact, the art of storytelling demands that information be withheld: ‘Actually, it is half the art of storytelling [Erzählen] to keep a story free from explanation as one recounts it.’3 Withheld information – that is, a lack of explanation – heightens narrative tension.
Byung-Chul Han • The Crisis of Narration
Being and information are mutually exclusive. A lack of being, a forgetfulness of being, is thus immanent to the information society. Information is additive and cumulative. It is not a bearer of sense, whereas a narration carries sense. The original meaning of ‘sense’ is direction. Today, we are perfectly informed, but we lack orientation.
... See moreByung-Chul Han • The Crisis of Narration
Information is only a point in time with no direction. In order for information to have meaning and direction, it must be integrated into narrative form.
Through storytelling, capitalism appropriates the narrative and submits it to consumption. Storytelling produces narratives in a consumable form. It charges products with emotion. It promises unique experiences. We buy, sell and consume narratives and emotions. Stories sell. Storytelling is storyselling.