Through a glass darkly - Narrative as destiny

Journal/Book: Theor Psychol. 1998; 8: 2455 Teller Rd, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Sage Publications Inc. 549-572.

Abstract: The paper explores issues of fate, chance, time, agency and destiny in therapy. The theoretical perspective is literary and deconstructive. It is suggested that therapy, like literature, is a setting for the unfolding of narrative destiny. In a therapeutic narrative the past breaks through into the future, opening fate to chance and enhancing personal agency. The future is seen in terms of the past as 'through a glass darkly'. Change is not a mere product of a therapeutic technology but falls from life as other, in a person's own narrative time. The discussion is illustrated by examples from therapy and considers implications for the social construction of personal agency.

Note: Article Larner G, Queenscliff Child & Family Hlth Serv, POB 605, Brookvale, NSW 2100, AUSTRALIA

Keyword(s): agency; destiny; narrative; social constructionism; therapy; DISCURSIVE PRODUCTION; FAMILY-THERAPY; PSYCHOLOGY; SELVES

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