The Crisis of Narration

by Byung-Chul Han

Byung-Chul Han’s books are reflections on and elixirs against the vast disorientation and emptiness of meaning that characterize our information society. The Crisis of Narration argues that our age-old need for the auratic wonders, secrets, and mysteries of storytelling and story listening has been turned into the inflationary production of narratives for consumption. In our “transparency society,” storytelling has become storyselling. Jolts made way to likes: this narrative crisis has a long history—Byung-Chul Han's new essay explores it. — Herbert Pföstl, Book Consultant for the New Museum Store.

Narratives have traditionally created the ties that bind us, fostering community and stability. In our modern information society, however, storytelling has morphed into "storyselling," where narratives lose their binding force and only create a fleeting community of consumers. The communal fire that once brought people together to share stories has been replaced by the digital screen, which separates rather than unites.

By appropriating narratives, capitalism transforms them into commodities, stripping them of their role as a medium of shared experience. The rise of "storyselling" reflects a struggle to cope with the randomness of contemporary life, but it cannot restore the stable narrative communities of the past. Byung-Chul Han, a leading cultural theorist, dissects this crisis with exceptional insight and flair, highlighting storytelling's pathological role in our age.

2024; paperback; 5.5 x 8 inches; 100 pages; ISBN: 9781509560431.