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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Anselma Gallinat
This is the authors' accepted manuscript of an article that has been published in its final definitive form by John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2015.
For re-use rights please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.
Life-stories are usually seen as showing considerable coherence even where they include turning points. More recent work has in contrast noted that “living” or “small narratives” do not follow this rule but contrastingly enable the pondering of unresolved life-events helping to develop understanding. This potential is particularly valuable in contexts of fundamental regime-change where changes of the value-system, such as after transition from state socialism to democracy, pose considerable challenges to narrative coherence. The article suggests reconsidering the question of coherence in life-stories and draws on two examples of individuals who experienced life in East Germany and German unification to argue that struggles for coherence in the life-story can be indicative of the lack of wider shared frameworks for the understandings of national events and historical problems.
Author(s): Gallinat A
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Narrative Inquiry
Year: 2015
Volume: 25
Issue: 2
Pages: 283-300
Print publication date: 01/06/2016
Acceptance date: 26/02/2016
Date deposited: 18/05/2016
ISSN (print): 1387-6740
ISSN (electronic): 1569-9935
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/ni.25.2.05gal
DOI: 10.1075/ni.25.2.05gal
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