Who speaks? Who looks? Who feels? Point of view in autobiographical narratives

Abstract

In this paper, the author aims to substantiate Freud's claim that neurotic illness creates gaps in autobiographical narratives in terms of the narrator's stating and inducing perspectives. He sketches out the role of narrative perspective and the joint taking of a shared perspective by analyst and patient in psychoanalytic therapy. He introduces four ways of representing perspectives in narratives. Three degrees of narrative distortion are exemplifi ed by three excerpts from life narratives and explored in terms of narrative perspective representation. The most comprehensive perspective representation is achieved in the fi rst example by explicitly stating the present perspective of the narrator as well as the past perspective of the story's protagonist by use of mental verbs. In the second narrative, exclusive use of linguistic forms for inducing the protagonist's perspective both overwhelms the narrator and gives the listener an incomplete picture of what happened. Inconsistent motives, denial of responsibility and omission of detail render the third narrative even more diffi cult to follow. The author discusses the clinical signifi cance of this exploratory analysis of perspectives in narratives in terms of claiming responsibility for one's past action and of level of defence mechanisms, and by highlighting the emotional impact on listeners, which the author suggests is the stronger the more perspectives are left out. He discusses analogies to countertransference. The analysis of narrative perspectives offers an approach for systematic research in psychoanalytic practice.

Key words:

• narrative perspective
• defence mechanisms
• countertransference
• emotion communication
• dramatic narration
• perspective taking
• life narratives
• autobiographical memory
• psychoanalytic research

1. An earlier version was presented at both psychoanalytic institutes in Frankfurt in January 2003 and at the conference The View of the Other in honour of Carl Friedrich Graumann, Heidelberg,25 April 2003.Translated by Angelika Rauch‐Rapaport.

1. An earlier version was presented at both psychoanalytic institutes in Frankfurt in January 2003 and at the conference The View of the Other in honour of Carl Friedrich Graumann, Heidelberg,25 April 2003.Translated by Angelika Rauch‐Rapaport.

Notes

1. An earlier version was presented at both psychoanalytic institutes in Frankfurt in January 2003 and at the conference The View of the Other in honour of Carl Friedrich Graumann, Heidelberg,25 April 2003.Translated by Angelika Rauch‐Rapaport.