A funny thing happened on the way to the story

Jessica Norrie brings out the elements of stories that may be very difficult to tell, especially when it is both personal and painful such as with memoirs.  In particular humour which even when dark can alleviate a moment in a story and enhance the narrative. Jessica gives us a number of examples of this, including a mention of Mary Smith and her poignant but also humorous blog My Dad is a Goldfish about her father’s dementia. As always a thought provoking post and after the excerpt do click the link and read the rest.

People have told stories since once upon a time. We know that from prehistoric cave paintings and sculpture. There may have been stories before there were words – through body language, perhaps. We know all societies create some form of music and that stories were told through music before they were written down. Homer’s epics (if Homer existed) were told to a musical accompaniment, for instance.

We tell stories to tiny children to comfort, entertain, process and explain (those who don’t, should). As adults, we call news scoops “big stories” and those who can afford it tell therapists our stories, retelling and reframing until with help from the therapist we arrive at the kernel within. More universally and informally, women recount what matters to them to their friends, and in healthy societies men do too. Was there ever anything less healthy than the requirement for British men to keep a stiff upper lip?

via A funny thing happened on the way to the story