IV

NARRATIVE

“We tell ourselves stories in order to live.”

—author Joan Didion,
The White Album (1979), p. 11.

Campfire Stories

Stories fill our memories and imagination, and narratives are the ways we share them, whether through writing, speaking, or acting them out. Storytellers burn with the need to get their stories out. Those who shared their stories by the most ancient campfires may be the founders of culture and civilization because there they passed along histories, legends, beliefs, jests, values, inventions, and endless inspirations. Those fires may be where the stories began. Through narratives, we express ourselves to the world. Through narratives, we may define who we are, heal wounds, and put ourselves onto new paths.

—T.L.