Narrative Inquiry· 2026Q1
Rethinking coherence through contradiction
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- 2026year
Short summary
Narrative coherence is achieved through contradiction, not despite it, by strategically presenting ambivalent experiences as stable and intelligible.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- Contradiction is a generative resource for narrative coherence, not a threat.
- Three strategies for self-justification in ambivalent narratives are identified: warranting past actions, negotiating stances with 'but', and self-evaluation.
- "Coherence through contradiction" explains how moral ambivalence becomes a stable narrative feature.
- The analysis uses a naturally occurring conversation about losing romantic feelings for a friend.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Abstract This article examines how narrative coherence is achieved in conversational storytelling when speakers confront morally and emotionally ambivalent experiences. Using a naturally occurring conversation in which a narrator reflects on losing romantic feelings for a close friend, the analysis explores how she negotiates critique and care while justifying that loss. Drawing on Duranti’s (2006) notion of existential coherence and Ochs and Capps’s (2001) tension between narrative coherence and authenticity of experience, I argue that contradiction is not a threat to narrative integrity but a generative resource within it. Specifically, I identify three narrative strategies through which the narrator pursues self-justification: ( 1 ) casting past action as warranted, ( 2 ) utilizing but to negotiate contradictory stances, and ( 3 ) evaluating the self against others. I introduce the concept of “coherence through contradiction” to capture how competing evaluative stances are interactionally patterned such that moral ambivalence becomes a stable and intelligible feature of narrative self-presentation.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Narrative Inquiry, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Language and Linguistics
Language and LinguisticsArts and Humanities