March 20, 2010
UTNE READER

Story Hysteria

Telling all is a national obsession. Here's how to break through to the stories that really matter

September/October 1997
Utne Editors 
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Telling a story is one of the simplest and most natural things a human being can do. Increasingly, though, storytelling has taken on more specialized roles. It's been used to challenge the abstract theories of sociologists and other specialists; it's gained prestige in science, public policy, and a host of other areas; it's been used to conquer addiction, recover buried truths, and imagine alternative futures. In fact, there is so much telling going on, from incest memoirs to narrative therapy to gut-spilling on Oprah, that an inevitable question arises: Is the explosion of story giving us the stories that we as a culture need, for growth, healing, justice, and joy? Or is all the telling merely adding to info-glut?

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Cover story section, September/October 1997.

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