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Robert Fulford

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The Triumph of Narrative: Storytelling in the Age of Mass Culture Paperback – February 6, 2001

by Robert Fulford (Author)

3.9 7 ratings

Part of: The CBC Massey Lectures (1 books)

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A lively, strikingly original look at the prevalence and endurance of stories in our lives and our culture.

When I hear a good story, I have an almost physical need to tell it. Of all the ways we communicate with one another the story has established itself as the most comfortable, the most versatile.

In The Triumph of Narrative, celebrated journalist and critic Robert Fulford explores narrative in all of its forms–from conversation, gossip, and urban legends to journalism, literature, film and television. Fulford vividly illustrates how storytelling formed the core of civilized life, how stories shape us as much as we shape stories, and why the human appetite for narrative persists.

Pursuing his subject across a landscape that includes The Birth of a Nation, Chinatown, television news, Twain, Hemingway and Nabokov, sex scandals, and The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Fulford brilliantly elucidates the timeless elements of narrative and articulates the intimate connections between stories and how we live and view reality. During an era when mass media and mass leisure have enabled us to spend much more time absorbing stories than any of our ancestors could, The Triumph of Narrative is an incisive look at one of our most fundamental, irreplaceable needs.

Review

?Fulford is one of the few intellectuals as comfortable with Elmore Leonard as with Saul Bellow . . . a book large in soul, insight and importance. Every reader, and every student of narrative in all its splendor and vast multimedia reach, ought to have a copy.?
--the Daily News (Halifax)

From the Inside Flap

A lively, strikingly original look at the prevalence and endurance of stories in our lives and our culture.

When I hear a good story, I have an almost physical need to tell it. Of all the ways we communicate with one another the story has established itself as the most comfortable, the most versatile.

In The Triumph of Narrative, celebrated journalist and critic Robert Fulford explores narrative in all of its formsfrom conversation, gossip, and urban legends to journalism, literature, film and television. Fulford vividly illustrates how storytelling formed the core of civilized life, how stories shape us as much as we shape stories, and why the human appetite for narrative persists.

Pursuing his subject across a landscape that includes The Birth of a Nation, Chinatown, television news, Twain, Hemingway and Nabokov, sex scandals, and The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Fulford brilliantly elucidates the timeless elements of narrative and articulates the intimate connections between stories and how we live and view reality. During an era when mass media and mass leisure have enabled us to spend much more time absorbing stories than any of our ancestors could, The Triumph of Narrative is an incisive look at one of our most fundamental, irreplaceable needs.

From the Back Cover

?Fulford is one of the few intellectuals as comfortable with Elmore Leonard as with Saul Bellow . . . a book large in soul, insight and importance. Every reader, and every student of narrative in all its splendor and vast multimedia reach, ought to have a copy.?--the Daily News (Halifax)

Part of series

The CBC Massey Lectures
Print length

176 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Broadway
Publication date

February 6, 2001
Dimensions

5.19 x 0.47 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

076790656X
ISBN-13

978-0767906562
See all details

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Broadway; 1st Broadway Books trade paperbook ed edition (February 6, 2001)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 176 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 076790656X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0767906562
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.2 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.19 x 0.47 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #3,853,190 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,833 in Research Reference Books
- #7,766 in Writing Skill Reference (Books)

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3.9 7 ratings

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3.9 out of 5

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Mark Nenadov

Ugh

Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2013

So far, I am not impressed by the CBC Lecture series. I haven't read every book, but so far all I have read have been painfully pretentious. They thrash around facts, but don't tie them well together. They end up sounding silly, pompous, and in the final analysis, fail even be fascinating.

This book falls into these pitfalls. It thrashes around a lot, and drops a lot of thoughts, but fails to be compelling or unique.

3 people found this helpful

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Karl

Parlez vous L'Academique?

Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2003

Both of the previous reviewers make the same point - which I heartily agree with - that this book would be a shoo-in with undergraduates.
But what about the rest of the world?
This is a fairly short book (152 pages in the main text) divided fairly evenly over five chapters. Nothing surprising there, since the book is the text of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's 1999 Massey lectures delivered by Fulford. Unfortunately the "lecture" element comes across all too clearly, not to mention a certain amount of academic tunnel vision.
The author seems to have a thing about the Bible, which he imperiously dismisses several times, apparently ignoring its ongoing best-seller status.
Of course buying doesn't necessarily constitute believing, but then we are talking about 'storytelling' here, not about 'religious beliefs', and since the author subsequently makes such a big thing about the influence of Sir Walter Scott's novel "Ivanhoe", which has had such a (comparatively) short life span, and given the still ongoing battle in the US over the pro- and anti-evolutionist versions of the creation story, it seems strange, not to say biased, that the influence of the Bible is almost totally ignored.
Having said that, it's hard to know what the Mr Fulford is actually trying to achieve - other than filling five lecture slots.
The author's take on his subject suggests a man who goes to the zoo and looks at the bipeds and the quadrapeds, the carnivores and the herbivores but who, at the end of the day has no idea what an "elephant" looks like, and certainly hasn't the faintest idea whether it's the Indian elephants or the African elephants which have the larger ears.
Looking back, the book came across as being a collection of ideas, loosely strung together, but none of them developed to any significant degree. Despite the constantly academic tone of the book, the author can be engaging, even amusing, and I found the last two chapters "The Cracked Mirror of Modernity" and "Nostalgia, Knighthood, and the Circle of Dreams" thoroughly entertaining. But there's nothing about the contents of the book that really stands out in my mind only a short time after reading it.
I've given the book three stars simply on account of its entertainment value. But would I actually recommend it to anyone interested in the storytelling process?
I don't think so.
[And it's the African elephants which have the larger ears :) ]

9 people found this helpful

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Jonathan Crowe

Engaging, thoughtful and accessible

Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2001

An engaging, lucid and thoughtful exploration of the human impulse to tell stories, from urban legends to postmodernist theory. If I were still doing the academic thing I would be assigning this little book to first- and second-year history students. Since the text of this book was given as a series of lectures on CBC radio, it's a very fluid and easy read. Definitely worthwhile.

6 people found this helpful

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Bill Ross

A Read to Win

Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2003

Fulford has opened my eyes to the significance of narrative. In this great reference to the many forms of narrative that are celebrated today and the past, Fulford combines a wonderful randition of thought provoking considerations which have helped me get through first year university english. It should be carried in every university student's backpack!

One person found this helpful

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The Triumph of Narrative: Storytelling in the Age of Mass Culture Paperback – February 6, 2001

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