Narrative Authority Research Articles

History or Dream: A Comparative Study of Tom Jones and Hongloumeng on Authorially Claimed Fictionality

Abstract: This essay makes a comparative study of Tom Jones and Hongloumeng from the perspective of the matter of fictionality. Both texts include authorial intrusions that straightforwardly signify the fictionality of the texts, complicating the problem of fictionality in the texts by affecting the delivery and connotation of the messages, or the truths, of the texts, while such fictionality functions distinctively differently in these two works. In comparison, this essay further elaborates on how authorially claimed fictionality splits texts into multiple layers among which readers are demanded to properly posit themselves among while reading, and how the progress of readers reading of these layered texts complicates and resolves the matter of fictionality to drive readers to perceive the messages of the works. While Tom Jones fictionality progresses by distancing readers from both the storyworld and the authorial narrator, HLMs fictionality functions by devouring both the readers and the author to immerse them in the storyworld. By different approaches to fictionality, the two texts lead readers to different types of truths. Therefore, this essay might offer a glimpse into the matter of fictionality in novel, on how fictionality constructs the nature of novel.

Deconstructing the Narrative of Fascination in J. M. Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians and Foe

ABSTRACT In J. M. Coetzee’s two anti-colonial novels, Waiting for the Barbarians and Foe, the white colonizer narrators are fascinated with the inexplicable signs of torture on the subaltern bodies. Scholars have critiqued that, despite Coetzee’s narrative experimentation, the subaltern characters are still objectified under the colonizer’s gaze and remain silenced. Drawing on fascination studies, this essay argues that Coetzee’s novels aim to reflect and ultimately deconstruct the narrative of fascination operated in colonial storytelling. Symbolized by the medusa’s image, fascination indicates an unsettling engagement with something that elicits simultaneous attraction and repulsion in the beholder’s mind. This essay first examines how Coetzee’s novels reveal the fictionality of “the fascination with the primitive,” a pervasive element in colonial discourse used to construct otherness. Second, it explores how Coetzee’s narrators reach the aporia of the narrative of fascination, where the seductive power of storytelling collapses when confronted with the unknowable other’s silence. By framing the narrative of fascination within metanarrative terms, Coetzee challenges the narrative authority and sovereign subjectivity traditionally upheld in Western literature, while also prompting readers to reflect on their own roles as interpreters and consumers of such stories, particularly those involving the suffering of others.

The Influence of Storytelling Techniques in Digital Marketing on Brand Loyalty: A Consumer Psychology Perspective

This study investigates the impact of storytelling techniques in digital marketing on brand loyalty, focusing on consumer psychology perspectives. The research aims to identify how storytelling, through emotional resonance, authenticity, and cultural relevance, fosters brand loyalty by creating deep, psychological connections with consumers. A qualitative research approach was applied, involving a systematic literature review of academic journals, books, and industry reports on storytelling, digital marketing, and consumer-brand relationships. The analysis was conducted using thematic coding, which categorized data into primary themes, including emotional engagement, brand authenticity, and cultural adaptation. Results indicate that storytelling effectively influences consumer loyalty by evoking emotional responses, establishing brand trust through authentic narratives, and enhancing engagement through culturally relevant content. Findings reveal that storytelling in digital marketing transforms brands into relatable entities, reinforcing loyalty through shared values and identity alignment. The study concludes with theoretical and managerial implications, suggesting that brands should prioritize authentic and culturally adaptive storytelling to cultivate lasting consumer loyalty in a competitive digital landscape. Future research should further examine the long-term effects of storytelling on loyalty across different digital platforms and cultural contexts.

Influencer Marketing in Kerala’s Food Industry: The Power of Storytelling

This study delves into the impact of storytelling in influencer marketing within Kerala's food industry, specifically focusing on its influence on consumer perceptions and purchasing decisions. With the increasing prevalence of social media, food influencers play a crucial role in shaping consumer behaviour by sharing authentic and relatable stories that resonate with their followers. The main objectives are to investigate the factors that drive consumer engagement with food influencers and to analyze the storytelling techniques utilized by influencers themselves. To achieve these goals, a mixed-methods approach is used, which involves gathering quantitative data through surveys targeting both consumers and influencers in Kerala. Statistical tools and econometric models are then applied to analyze the data, revealing significant trends and correlations between storytelling and consumer behaviour. Descriptive statistics offer insights into the demographics of consumers and influencers, while cross-tabulation and chi-square tests are used to examine the relationships between categorical variables. Additionally, logistic regression analysis is conducted to assess the impact of trust in storytelling on purchasing behavior. The findings underscore the crucial role of storytelling in building trust and engagement among consumers, particularly among higher-income groups and younger demographics who are influenced by authentic narratives. Furthermore, influencers with extensive experience employ storytelling techniques to enhance their effectiveness and engagement metrics. The study concludes with actionable recommendations for businesses and marketers in the food industry, emphasizing the significance of storytelling in influencer marketing strategies. This research provides valuable insights into the dynamics of influencer marketing in the food sector, offering a framework for future studies on the interaction between storytelling, consumer engagement, and brand loyalty in the digital age. Keywords:Influencer Marketing, Storytelling, Consumer Behavior, Food Industry, Engagement

Can GPT-3.5 generate and code discharge summaries?

The aim of this study was to investigate GPT-3.5 in generating and coding medical documents with International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 codes for data augmentation on low-resource labels. Employing GPT-3.5 we generated and coded 9606 discharge summaries based on lists of ICD-10 code descriptions of patients with infrequent (or generation) codes within the MIMIC-IV dataset. Combined with the baseline training set, this formed an augmented training set. Neural coding models were trained on baseline and augmented data and evaluated on an MIMIC-IV test set. We report micro- and macro-F1 scores on the full codeset, generation codes, and their families. Weak Hierarchical Confusion Matrices determined within-family and outside-of-family coding errors in the latter codesets. The coding performance of GPT-3.5 was evaluated on prompt-guided self-generated data and real MIMIC-IV data. Clinicians evaluated the clinical acceptability of the generated documents. Data augmentation results in slightly lower overall model performance but improves performance for the generation candidate codes and their families, including 1 absent from the baseline training data. Augmented models display lower out-of-family error rates. GPT-3.5 identifies ICD-10 codes by their prompted descriptions but underperforms on real data. Evaluators highlight the correctness of generated concepts while suffering in variety, supporting information, and narrative. While GPT-3.5 alone given our prompt setting is unsuitable for ICD-10 coding, it supports data augmentation for training neural models. Augmentation positively affects generation code families but mainly benefits codes with existing examples. Augmentation reduces out-of-family errors. Documents generated by GPT-3.5 state prompted concepts correctly but lack variety, and authenticity in narratives.

An Analysis of Primary and Secondary Slang Used in The Movie “Plane” by Jean François Richet

This study entitled “ An Analysis of Primary Slang and Secondary Slang Used in The Movie “Plane” by Jean- Francois Richet. This research aimed to explore the utilization of primary and secondary slang in the movie titled "Plane," directed by Jean-François Richet. To collect the data, a structured approach involving qualitative descriptive methods. Additionally, the study utilized Chapman (2007) as the theoretical framework. The analysis showed that secondary slang words were more common in the movie, with 16 (73%) instances, compared to 6 (27%) instances of primary slang. In conclusion, this research emphasized the importance of primary and secondary slang in the movie, showcasing their role in character interactions and narrative authenticity. The study of the movie "Plane" and the use of Chapman's slang language theory enhanced our understanding of language's contribution to cinematic storytelling.

A Ramayana of Her Own: Reading Chandrabati’s Ramayana through a Gendered Perspective

Composed in the late 16th century, the Bengali woman poet Chandrabati’s Ramayana retells the Ramkatha stories with a distinctive female voice that narrates the familiar story of women’s suffering rather than of masculine heroism. Belonging to the Bengali genre of folk narratives variously known as pala gaan, this version of the Ramayana stands in clear affinity with the several narratives about women’s tragic lives that comprise a distinct type of pala literature. It centralizes Sita’s agonizing experiences. Sita’s character becomes the primary narrative tool through which Chandrabati’s verse narrative subverts the traditional patriarchal representation of her character. She (Chandrabati) challenges the mythology from the point of view of the gendered subaltern and makes Sita occupy the centre stage pushing back Rama to the margin. Written with a unique narrative technique this verse narrative is told through a “baromasi” – a woman’s plaintive refrain about everyday sorrows that venture into mythical intertextualities, Chandrabati questions the woman-centric point of view to understand, analyze, and interpret religion and remains critical of the dominant male ideology. The narrative authority of the female voice becomes even more assertive with the addition of the poet’s own life story, which serves to set this revision of the customary Ramkatha within a discourse on women’s self-perception. The paper intends to explore how a woman’s narrative raises crucial questions regarding wifehood, motherhood, the female psyche, the various forms of oppression that women go through, and the overall position of women in a male-dominated society. It is a woman’s text, an atypical refashioning of the Ramayana story which starts with a river in Sita’s village and her miraculous birth. While maintaining some of the basic plot points, Chandrabati’s short, humble Ramayana in Bangla takes artistic liberties that few ‘Ramayanas’ of the time had taken.

Culinary Cartographies: Mapping Cultural Identity through Foodways in Randa Jarrar’s A Map of Home

This paper delves into the confluence of cultural identity and foodways in the diaspora, using Randa Jarrar’s A Map of Home, as its object of study. It investigates the role of food, as a vibrant site of cultural expression and exchange for the Palestinian-Egyptian protagonist and her family, who strive for charting their transnational identity across different locations and cultures. Against the background of Anita Mannur’s insights on “Culinary Fictions”, this study examines the significance of food preferences and eating habits as a tool for affirming cultural identity, negotiating belonging, and resisting hegemonic narratives of cultural authenticity and assimilation. By analyzing the significance and symbolism of food in the diaspora, this research foregrounds the complexities of cultural identity. It does so through exploring culinary practices as part of the “defence and coping mechanisms” adopted by diasporic communities to maintain a connection to their homelands while attempting to render their experience of belonging tangible and fully lived. In this sense, food acts as more than a nourishment for the body as it equally functions as a vital source of sustenance for the diasporic consciousness, contributing significantly to the preservation of cultural identity and the maintenance of connections to ancestral homelands.

Lessons for Sustainable Science Education: A Study on Chemists’ Use of Systems Thinking across Ecological, Economic, and Social Domains

This paper explores how concept maps can be structured based on researcher narration as a systems thinking (ST) approach in science education to portray the systemic nature of developmental work by chemists on solutions related to sustainability. Sustainability cannot be achieved without a systemic approach that considers all the domains of prosperity and well-being—ecological, social, and economic. Science education must respond to this challenge accordingly and find effective ways to include the ST approach. Data were collected from three semi-structured, in-depth interviews with chemists. The analysis was carried out using qualitative content analysis and modelling the systemic structures in concept maps as articulated by the chemists. The results show that authentic narratives of chemists’ developmental work can be used as material in a concept mapping exercise to reveal several ST elements and learning objectives, including leverage points and delays, that have not been presented in previous exercises. The chemists’ descriptions were also found to address the challenge of sustainability education by depicting a holistic and multidimensional picture of the reality where the developmental work is conducted. Furthermore, all three domains of sustainability were identified. The economic and industrial perspectives were especially valuable from the science education viewpoint.

Mechanisms of Defense and Narrative Authority in Holocaust Fiction: Imagining the Perpetrator in David Grossman’s See Under: Love

While perpetrator fiction, which centralizes the perpetrator’s experience, perspective, and mind, is commonly studied through the peril of readers’ possible identification with the executioner, this paper considers the challenges that writers face in creating these characters. First, the question of narrative authority—who is authorized to imagine the Holocaust?—arises anew: do nonsurvivors hold the public and moral legitimacy to imagine perpetrators? Second, there is the risk of writers’ identification with the humanized executioner to the point of losing their moral judgment and critical perspective. Utilizing Holocaust historiography (Yitzhak Arad, Christopher Browning) and recent theoretical work on perpetrator fiction (especially by Erin McGlothlin), this paper identifies some of the textual mechanisms that contemporary authors employ in response to these challenges: metapoetic discourse, the fantastic mode, creative uses of historical facts, first-person and unreliable narration, and alternating textual forms. Following an introductory presentation of the theoretical problem, the paper closely explores mechanisms of defense and narrative authority in the “Wasserman” part of David Grossman’s See Under: Love (‘Ayen ‘erekh: Ahavah), before turning to a briefer consideration of Martin Amis’s Time’s Arrow, Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader, and other second-generation Holocaust narratives. A more extensive analysis of Jonathan Littell’s The Kindly Ones concludes my discussion.

Digital Narratives for Academic Success: Enhancing Student Achievement through Storytelling

This study looked at how Digital Story-telling (DST) affected high school students studying English as a second language in terms of their learning motivationm, critical thinking, and academic achievement. This year-long study included 48 10th-grade students from two English courses using a quasi-experimental design with pretest and posttest assessments. Information technology-integrated instruction at two levels—lecture-style (for the comparison group) and DST (for the experimental group)—was the independent variable. In order to assess how well DST improves learning outcomes, both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered. This included critical thinking and English language competence tests as well as questionnaire answers about learning motivation. The collected data underwent examination through descriptive analysis, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), and qualitative content analysis. Our findings show that participants in the DST group surpassed those in the lecture-style ITII group concerning critical thinking, learning motivation, and English proficiency. Insights gathered from interviews underscore the noteworthy educational impact of DST. Both the teacher and students expressed that DST elevated their understanding of course content, heightened their curiosity, and enhanced their critical thinking abilities—essential skills for equipping students for the dynamic challenges of the 21st century. Incorporating stories from Palestinian culture, rooted in the real-life experiences of students, has been successfully undertaken to enhance the cultural relevance of DST. This addition brings a valuable dimension to the research, providing a more comprehensive understanding of how DST impacts students' learning experiences. By integrating these authentic narratives, the study successfully captures the cultural richness and diversity inherent in the students' backgrounds, thereby enriching the overall research findings.

‘If it's held dear, it’ll get pushed through’: Transmedia narratives, play cultures, and soft canon in tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs)

Transmedia storytelling is a strategy adopted by media franchises and brands to create participatory story-worlds for their consumers; it incorporates a range of forms, actors, and texts, all of which have varying degrees of narrative authority in determining the events that occur. This article focuses on tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons to show how play cultures in Singapore are shaped by transmedia storytelling techniques. In doing so, it makes two contributions to existing research: first, it shifts scholarly focus from game texts to player practice, showing how communities of play are created through players’ emergent usage of transmedia storytelling techniques. Second, it describes a player practice of soft canon, which I theorise as an approach to shared world-making that prioritises the emotional resonance of narrative details over a positivist accounting of narrative events. The concept of soft canon reveals a new perspective on how communities create and sustain intersubjectively imagined worlds.

Thackeray-type narrator revisited: portrayal of characters’ minds as narratorial performance in Vanity Fair

Abstract The traditional authoritative, obtrusive narrator, also known as the Thackeray-type narrator, has been excluded from the narratological study of consciousness representations, partly because scholars have a stereotypical view that such a narrator avoids descriptions of a character’s inside view, and partly because they dislike narratorial presence in the representations of figural consciousness. Taking Thackeray’s Vanity Fair as a typical example, this paper revisits these views and reconsiders the presentation of consciousness in terms of narratorial performance of narrative authority. With attention to the degrees of the reader’s involvement, it investigates how the narrator modulates various narrative techniques (psycho-narration, free indirect thought, narrated perception) to present the minds of the worldly male characters, how each technique functions in different narrative contexts through the interaction between the narratorial voice and figural consciousness, and how the narrator’s internal evaluation is subtly embedded in the immediate representations of consciousness to create intentional ambiguity.

Harmonizing Progress: The Resounding Impact of Education on Women's Economic Empowerment

This study explores the transformative role of education in economically empowering women in District Dir Lower, Malakand Division, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The research delves into the correlation between women's education and economic well-being, emphasizing education as a gateway for women to compete in the labor market, strengthen earning possibilities, and gain control over resources. The methodology employs purposive sampling to engage with 20 educated and employed women, using open-ended questions in interviews to capture authentic narratives. Thematic analysis is applied to unravel insights, and ethical considerations ensure confidentiality and cultural sensitivity. The qualitative data analysis unveils a rich tapestry of themes, emphasizing education's impact on women's employment and productivity. Educated women emerge as pivotal contributors to family and national income, participating actively in legislation and policy-making. The study underlines the importance of women's education as a gateway to economic growth, with higher literacy rates correlating to stronger GDP and GNP. The symphony of women's education is portrayed as a transformative force, empowering nations and fostering a brighter, more inclusive future. The study calls for government prioritization of girls' education, implementation of skill development programs, and gender-responsive labor policies to foster gender equality and women's economic empowerment.

Perception and appropriation of a web-based recovery narratives intervention: qualitative interview study.

Mental health recovery narratives are widely available to the public, and can benefit people affected by mental health problems. The NEON Intervention is a novel web-based digital health intervention providing access to the NEON Collection of recovery narratives. The NEON Intervention was found to be effective and cost-effective in the NEON-O Trial for people with nonpsychosis mental health problems (ISRCTN63197153), and has also been evaluated in the NEON Trial for people with psychosis experience (ISRCTN11152837). We aimed to document NEON Intervention experiences, through an integrated process evaluation. Analysis of interviews with a purposive sample of intervention arm participants who had completed trial participation. We interviewed 34 NEON Trial and 20 NEON-O Trial participants (mean age 40.4 years). Some users accessed narratives through the NEON Intervention almost daily, whilst others used it infrequently or not at all. Motivations for trial participation included: exploring the NEON Intervention as an alternative or addition to existing mental health provision; searching for answers about mental health experiences; developing their practice as a mental health professional (for a subset who were mental health professionals); claiming payment vouchers. High users (10 + narrative accesses) described three forms of appropriation: distracting from difficult mental health experiences; providing an emotional boost; sustaining a sense of having a social support network. Most participants valued the scale of the NEON Collection (n = 659 narratives), but some found it overwhelming. Many felt they could describe the characteristics of a desired narrative that would benefit their mental health. Finding a narrative meeting their desires enhanced engagement, but not finding one reduced engagement. Narratives in the NEON Collection were perceived as authentic if they acknowledged the difficult reality of mental health experiences, appeared to describe real world experiences, and described mental health experiences similar to those of the participant. We present recommendations for digital health interventions incorporating collections of digital narratives: (1) make the scale and diversity of the collection visible; (2) provide delivery mechanisms that afford appropriation; (3) enable contributors to produce authentic narratives; (4) enable learning by healthcare professionals; (5) consider use to address loneliness.

The Role of Muhammad Ibn Al-Munkadir in the Intellectual Life and the Blogging Movement in the Umayyad Era (41-132 AH / 661-749 AD)

ABSTRACT Ibn al-Mankadr was an Umayyad-era scholar who possessed a wide range of knowledge in various fields, contributing significantly to the intellectual movement and Arab-Islamic civilization. The narratives that contributed to the documentation of Arab-Islamic history originated from Adam and subsequent prophets, and continued through the pre-Islamic era, the era of prophecy, the Rightly Guided Caliphate, and the Umayyad era, up until the time preceding the latter's demise. The author's narratives are characterized by quality, reliability, and truthfulness. Despite their large number, totaling just over 200 hadiths, they were not considered excessive during that period. The author's literary and artistic sensibilities were apparent in his storytelling, prayers, and commentary on certain poems. He supported the Arab-Islamic codification movement at its beginning, which was a crucial source for scholars who codified the Sunnah during his time and afterwards. One of his students, Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri, is considered the first to comprehensively codify the Sunnah and was a contemporary of Ibn al-Munkadir. This represents a fundamental aspect of the initial phase of the Islamic blogging movement.

“Just Theater!”—How Self-Legitimation Practices Can Backfire in International Organizations

Abstract Working in international organizations (IOs) is not always a pleasure. Contradictory external demands make it difficult to do the right thing, constant failures in the field lead to frustration, and hierarchical structures require “emotional labor” on the part of IO staff. While we know that IO leadership therefore engages in self-legitimation practices to strengthen employee motivation and maintain organizational cohesion, we know little about the actual results of these activities. To address this gap, I focus on the perceptions of “ordinary” IO employees. Based on seventy-five in-depth interviews with IO staff in two different IOs, the United Nations (UN) Secretariat and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), I develop a typology of five different staff responses to internal legitimation. I show that leadership’s legitimation efforts can not only result in (i) acceptance and adoption of the given narratives but also lead to (ii) criticism, (iii) toleration, (iv) cynicism, or even (v) exit of IO employees. Thus, ironically, the very leadership activities that are supposed to foster internal stability can also backfire and contribute to the destabilization of the IO. Building on these findings, I discuss two factors that influence IO employees’ perception of self-legitimation practices and are crucial for their success: the credibility of IO leaders and the right balance between glossing over and self-criticism in their legitimation narratives. I conclude by arguing that, contrary to common belief, legitimation and critique are not irreconcilable opposites. Rather, self-criticism can be an integral part of successful legitimation.

Postfeminist technologies of authenticity: Examining the construction of authentic feminine selves in the neoliberal workplace

This paper examines how the neoliberal injunction to be authentic as addressed to working women operates at the level of the individual. Drawing on Foucault’s framing of self-construction, the paper conceptualizes the quest for the authentic feminine self as a technology of the self which enables women to work upon transformation of their subjectivity to attain a state of authenticity. The developed conceptual framework is applied in an in-depth structural and content analysis of work-life narratives of authenticity related by women training and development professionals. These narratives are a part of the field material collected during a two-year ethnographic study of the sector. Derived from theoretical and empirical analysis, the paper develops the notion of postfeminist technologies of authenticity which demonstrate the quest for the authentic feminine self as aligned with postfeminism, a neoliberal sensibility under which individualized and retraditionalized notions of femininity are constructed. Authenticity is therefore shown as a gendered form of control which works upon women’s self-construction in regressive ways contributing to the reproduction of gendered work, organizations, and power relations.

Clickbait modernism

ABSTRACT Over recent years terms such as autofiction, postcritique and postfiction have been repurposed to designate a moment in the history of the novel, and in culture more broadly, to do with the distribution of narrative authority. These terms have also helped articulate a contemporary double bind whereby impatience with the knowingness of third-person narration meets an equal and opposite impatience with ideology critique, whose unmasking of textual or authorial ideology is itself viewed as excessively knowing. This article reconnects such a discursive predicament to the enduring problem of modernism’s relation to realism. Through a consideration of public acts of reading in James Joyce’s ‘A Painful Case’ (pub.1914), Anna Burns’s Milkman (2018) and Patricia Lockwood’s No One is Talking About This (2021), it considers the place of realism in relation to both the current impact of the internet and the historical memory of literary modernism. It argues that if we want to think about modernism’s continued relevance to contemporary cultural forms we should consider how the devices of realism imperilled at the end of the nineteenth century remain differently imperilled in today’s online world.

How Expert Committees Become Group Agents: Self-Legitimation in the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Abstract The UN human rights treaty bodies—groups of experts tasked with monitoring how states implement international human rights conventions—are increasingly portrayed as powerful collective entities with agency. This article focuses on one mechanism that helps collectives of individuals become group agents, namely internal self-legitimation. By internal self-legitimation, we mean practices such as narratives and rituals enacted by a group that ascribe legitimacy to it in the eyes of its members and are key to building common identification among them. We explore how self-legitimation facilitates group agency on the basis of a case study on the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), obtaining empirical evidence for the study from content analysis of CRPD documents and interviews with former and present members. We show that specific legitimation narratives—related to the moral value of the committee’s task and the moral integrity of its members, the fairness of the CRPD’s procedures, and the committee’s association with other presumably legitimate institutions—facilitated identity-building and helped the CRPD to develop the characteristics of a group agent and take decisions. Finally, we explore the conditions on which the findings might be applicable to other human rights treaty bodies.