We are delighted to publish this guest blog on narrative, written by the University of Sheffield students behind The Dead Beats blog.
Narrative and an awareness of narrative is something that is intrinsic to humanity. Narrative is vital because it often presents just one; one viewpoint, one way of thinking. Narrative forces the imagination to take centre stage and when this happens, humans are allowed to transform from collectives into individuals, from six billion people into a singular person. Narrative begs to be believed and may also choose to deceive. Narrative is, to butcher Shakespeare, ‘but a chevril glove to a good wit: how quickly the wrong side may be turned outward’.
Yet, narrative is not just storytelling. Narrative can be a methodology, a way to get from A – B, from hypothesis to cure. It’s a device to show linear development and a means by which plans, philosophies and ideas can reach their conclusion. Moreover, narrative enables us to communicate and convey ideas to the rest of mankind and helps us to comprehend the wider world around, as it portrays with lucidity both the things we experience day to day and the things which are unknown to us.
Narrative may not permanently alter our universe. Narrative may not string the words we wanted to hear in the right way. Narrative is subjective and may not always be heard. However, when it is heard, it reaches and moves people in a way nothing else can.
Everyone has a story to tell; we want people to hear them.
The Beats are dead; long live Dead Beats.
Dead Beats.
Dead Beats is a Sheffield-based, student-run publishing and performance poetry organisation, set up to cultivate literary sartorialism.
www.facebook.com/deadbeatsliteraryblog