ABSTRACT
Interactional narrative – narrative as co-constructed by the narrator and the listener – is an example of the transformative perspective. This principle is illustrated in the fragment from a consultation between a patient Mrs. Dunn and her doctor Dr Patel. The Russian philosopher and linguist Mikhail Bakhtin, who began writing at around the time of the Russian revolution, made a key contribution to narrative theory with his claim that all text is dialogical. In Bakhtin's view, the role of the listener is not merely to absorb a story passively, but to provide a separate perspective – something which sociologist Arthur Frank describes as critical distance. This chapter argues that the rigorous and conscientious application of logico-deductive truths is undeniably a critical dimension of good clinical care. The 'just listening' of the healing relationship requires the development of a shared ethical perspective, based on a common although, crucially, not identical – reading of the situation and context.
