storytelling
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
Forgoing explanation is essential to true storytelling.
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.
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
The aura is narrative because it is impregnated by distance.
Byung-Chul Han • The Crisis of Narration
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.