Metanarrative

 ( Literary Criticism ) 

In social theory, a metanarrative (also master narrative, or meta-narrative and grand narrative; or ) is an overarching narrative about smaller historical narratives, which offers a society legitimation through the anticipated completion of a (as yet unrealized) master idea. The term was popularized by the writing of French people philosopher Jean-François Lyotard in 1979. Metanarrative is considered a foundational concept of postmodernism.J. Childers/G. Hentzi eds., The Columbia Dictionary of Modern Literary and Cultural Criticism (1995) p. 186R. Appignanesi/C. Garratt, Postmodernism for Beginners (1995) pp. 102–3Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Explained to Children (1992) p. 29

Master narrative and synonymous terms like metanarrative are also used in narratology to mean "stories within stories," as coined by Literary theory Gérard Genette.

Examples of master narratives can be found in U.S. high school according to scholar Derrick Alridge: "history courses and curricula are dominated by such heroic and celebratory master narratives as those portraying George Washington and Thomas Jefferson as the heroic 'Founding Fathers,' Abraham Lincoln as the 'Great Emancipator,' and Martin Luther King, Jr., as the messianic savior of African Americans."*

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Etymology "Meta" is Greek for "beyond"; "narrative" is a Narrative that is characterized by its telling (it is communicated somehow).The Meta-Narrative. "Lesson 1: What is a Meta-Narrative?". YouTube. October 11, 2013.

Although first used earlier in the 20th century, the term was brought into prominence by Jean-François Lyotard in 1979, with his claim that the postmodern was characterized precisely by mistrust of the "grand narratives" (such as ideas about Progressivism, Enlightenment, Emancipation, and Marxism) that had formed an essential part of modernity.Childers pp. 166–7 Metanarrative may be related and is often used interchangeably with metafiction but there is a distinction. The latter foregrounds or discloses the fictionality of a narrative while metanarrative does not undercut fiction.

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Lyotard's thesis In (1979), Lyotard highlights the increasing skepticism of the postmodern condition toward the supposed universality ("totalizing nature") of metanarratives and their reliance on some form of "transcendent and universal truth":Lyotard, Jean-François. Introduction:The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge", 1979: xxiv–xxv.

Lyotard and other poststructuralist thinkers (like Michel Foucault)G. Gutting ed., The Cambridge Companion to Foucault (2007) p. 36 view this as a broadly positive development. They assert that attempts to construct grand theories unduly dismiss the natural chaos and disorder of the universe, and the power of an individual event.C. Nouvet et al eds., Minima Moralia (2007) pp. xii–iv

Sociology.org.uk (primarily the personal blog of Chris Livesey, as sustained over perhaps 12 years, in parallel to a long career in sociology education) states that it is unclear whether Lyotard's work is describing a globalism of skepticism towards metanarratives in postmodernity, or prescribing such skepticism. Lyotard's critics emphasize that metanarratives continue to play a major role in the postmodern world.

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Lyotard's proposal Lyotard proposed that metanarratives should give way to , or more modest and "localized" narratives, which can "throw off" a grand narrative by bringing into focus a singular event.Nouvet, p. xvi Borrowing from the works of Wittgenstein and his theory of the "models of discourse",Hans Bertens, The Idea of the Postmodern: A History, Routledge, 1995, p. 124. Lyotard constructs his vision of a progressive politics, grounded in the cohabitation of a whole range of diverse and always locally legitimated ; multiple narratives coexisting.Jean-Francois Lyotard, The Differend (1988) pp. 151–161 Lyotard drew from Wittgenstein's notion of the language-game to reveal the multiplicity of meanings found within different contexts, including the meanings impact on our understanding of truth. The key concepts of Lyotard's thesis include:

• Skepticism of Universal Truths based on the postmodernist view criticism of the single narrative that can encompass all aspects of human life and experience;
• Fragmentation of Knowledge or "little narratives" that are more modest, fragmented, and specified to particular contexts.
  Paddy McQueen (2025). 9781350314849, Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781350314849

Postmodernists attempt to replace metanarratives by focusing on specific local contexts as well as on the diversity of human experience. They argue for the existence of a "multiplicity of theoretical standpoints"Michael A. Peters, Poststructuralism, Marxism, and Neoliberalism: Between Theory and Politics, Rowman & Littlefield, 2001, p. 7. rather than for grand, all-encompassing theories.

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Criticism of Lyotard's thesis

Johannes Willem Bertens and Douwe Fokkema argued that, in so far as one of Lyotard's targets was science, he was mistaken in thinking that science relies upon a grand narrative for social and epistemic validation, rather than on the accumulation of many lesser narrative successes.J. W. Bertens/D. Fokkema, International Postmodernism (1997) p. 94

Lyotard himself also criticized the scientific content of his thesis and referred to it as "simply the worst of all my books." Lotta Poetica, 3rd series, Vol. 1, No. 1, Milan: Edizioni Amadulo (1987) p. 82.

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In narratology and communication

Metanarrative has a specific definition in narratology and communications theory. According to John Stephens and Robyn McCallum, a metanarrative "is a global or totalizing cultural narrative schema which orders and explains knowledge and experience"Stephens, John and Robyn McCallum. (1998). Retelling Stories, Framing Culture: Traditional Story and Metanarratives in Children's Literature. . – a story about a story, encompassing and explaining other "little stories" within that assemble the "little stories" into a whole. Postmodern narratives will often deliberately disturb the formulaic expectations such cultural codes provide,J. W. Bertens/D. Fokkema, International Postmodernism (1997) p. 186 pointing thereby to a possible revision of the social code.E. D. Ermath, Sequel to History (1992) p. 156

In communication and strategic communication, a master narrative (or metanarrative) is a "transhistorical narrative that is deeply embedded in a particular culture".Halverson, Jeffry R., H.L. Goodall Jr. and Steven R. Corman. Master Narratives of Islamist Extremism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. p. 14 A master narrative is therefore a particular type of narrative, which is defined as a "coherent system of interrelated and sequentially organized stories that share a common rhetorical desire to resolve a conflict by establishing audience expectations according to the known trajectories of its literary and rhetorical form".

The Consortium for Strategic Communication also maintains a website on master narratives.

Others have related metanarratives to masterplots, "recurrent skeletal stories, belonging to cultures and individuals that play a powerful role in questions of identity, values, and the understanding of life."H. Porter Abbott, The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative, 2nd ed, Cambridge Introductions to Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 236.

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See also

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Sources

• Jean-François Lyotard. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984 1979, reprint 1997. Translated by Geoff Bennington and Brian Massumi.

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Further reading

• David Carr, Time, Narrative, and History (Indiana UP, 1986)
• Geoffrey Bennington, Lyotard: Writing the Event (1988)

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External links

• A Postmodern Strategy: Language Games

Categories: Literary Criticism, Modernism

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