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5 - Lines of vision

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2012

Shirley Brice Heath
Shirley Brice Heath
Affiliation:
Stanford University, California
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Summary

Storytellers “talk on against time.” Their stories depend on the possibilities that emerge when characters free themselves from antecedent conditions and envision new beginnings. Listeners want storytellers to put off the certainty of closure, and they distrust “happily ever after” endings for the strangers they meet in stories. The flame that consumes the fate of these strangers yields the warmth they desire in their own “shivering” lives.

The characters in the stories told here are themselves storytellers who work against time: the past they leave behind and the future they envision ahead.

Type
Chapter
Information
Words at Work and Play
Three Decades in Family and Community Life
 , pp. 84 - 104
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2012

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  • Lines of vision
  • Shirley Brice Heath, Stanford University, California
  • Book: Words at Work and Play
  • Online publication: 05 August 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139046206.007
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Lines of vision
  • Shirley Brice Heath, Stanford University, California
  • Book: Words at Work and Play
  • Online publication: 05 August 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139046206.007
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Lines of vision
  • Shirley Brice Heath, Stanford University, California
  • Book: Words at Work and Play
  • Online publication: 05 August 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139046206.007
Available formats
×