ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the shaping of perceptions through the work of the literary artist and also through the everyday craft of language, particularly in the structures of syntax and narrative. These structures are described on the lines of Labov’s model of personal narratives (described in, for example, Labov and Waletsky, ‘Narrative analysis: oral versions of personal experience’ (1967) andwith reference tomodels of languageuse explained by Halliday inExplorations in the Functions ofLanguage (1973) andbyGreimas (as discussed by Toolan in Narrative: a Critical Linguistic Introduction (1988)). The heuristic and therapeutic value of story-telling is explored with reference to, for example, papers edited by Sarbin in Narrative Psychology: the Storied Nature of Human Conduct (1986).
