S. Blumkulka, YOU GOTTA KNOW-HOW TO TELL A STORY - TELLING, TALES, AND TELLERS IN AMERICAN AND ISRAELI NARRATIVE EVENTS AT DINNER, Language in society, 22(3), 1993, pp. 361-402
This study explores the degree of cultural diversity in the dinner-tab
le conversation narrative events of eight middle-class Jewish-American
and eight Israeli families, matched on family constellation. Conceptu
alized in terms of a threefold framework of telling, tales, and teller
s, the analysis reveals both shared and unshared narrative event prope
rties. Narrative events unfold in both groups in similar patterns with
respect to multiple participation in the telling, the prevalence of p
ersonal experience tales, and the respect for children's story-telling
rights. Yet cultural styles come to the fore in regard to each realm
as well as their interrelations. American families locate tales outsid
e the home but close in time, ritualizing recounts of ''today''; Israe
li families favor tales more distant in time but closer to home. While
most narratives foreground individual selves, Israeli families are mo
re likely to recount shared events that center around the family ''us'
' as protagonist. In modes of telling, American families claim access
to story ownership through familiarity with the tale, celebrating mono
logic performances; but in Israeli families, ownership is achievable t
hrough polyphonic participation in the telling.