Tales of the City: A Study of Narrative and Urban LifeHow do we picture urban life and formulate our experience of it? Tales of the City brings together the academics' abstract tales with the vivid stories about a particular city, Milton Keynes, and the often moving self narrations of its residents. It explores the role of story-telling processes for the creative constructing of experience, with particular attention to personal narrations. The story that is now emerging, told by many individual actor narrators, is of the city as a natural setting for human life, in stark contrast to the pessimistic anti-urban tales of many academic narrators. Drawing on narrative studies, cultural and linguistic anthropology and social theory, Professor Finnegan skillfully examines the narrative conventions and cultural implications of our multiple tales of the city, and relates them to profound mythic themes about urban life, community, and to the creative role of the active, reflecting individual. |
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academic stories accepted accounts actually analysed Aylesbury Bletchley Brenda Dawson's Bruner Buckinghamshire Campbell Park Central Milton Keynes chapter city centre concrete cows context continuity convey countryside creative culture depicted earlier episodes estates experience familiar figures flat formulating friends garden city generalised genres George Rowe house in Fishermead human images individual interaction kids living London look married mean Milton Keynes Borough MKDC mother moved to Milton myth narrative conventions narrators Netherfield oral parents Park particular personal narratives personal stories perspective Petts Wood planners playgroup plot portrayed postmodern present protagonists Rachel Jacobs recognised recount road role sense sister social sometimes sort specific Stantonbury Stony Stratford story-telling studies tale tell temporal themes things told town traditional transcripts urban theories Welwyn Garden City west Bletchley Wolverton WRAC