Fairytales and Tragedies: Narratively Making Sense of the Dark Side (and the Dark Side of Making Sense) of Personal Relationships

Jody Koenig Kellas, Erin K. Willer, Haley Kranstuber

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

Human life is a set of stories and personal relationships are the main characters. We live out the plotlines of these stories creating, celebrating, contemplating, discussing, cursing, lamenting, despising, struggling over, under, and through a vast topography of different relationships. As the authors in the current (and previous) dark side volumes attest, personal relationships can be complex prisms reflecting the light and dark sides of human relating. Because we are essentially storytelling creatures (Bruner, 1990; Fisher, 1987)-homo narrans (Fisher) or naïve scientists (Heider, 1958)-we are compelled to make sense of our relationships by telling stories about them to ourselves, to our relational partners, to friends, to anyone who will listen as we communicate to give meaning to our experiences. One of the primary ways we do this is in everyday talk (Duck, 1994) and thus, telling our stories helps us manage our personal relationships.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationThe Dark Side of Close Relationships II
PublisherTaylor and Francis
Pages63-93
Number of pages31
ISBN (Electronic)9781135221157
ISBN (Print)9780415804578
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2010

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Arts and Humanities
  • General Social Sciences
  • General Psychology

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