April 27, 2001

The Ubiquity of Stories

To the Editor:

Peter Brooks rightly criticizes what some refer to as the tyranny of narrative -- that is, the proliferation of the story in popular (and now political) discourse ("Stories Abounding," The Review, March 23). He is wrong, however, to say that the work of Barthes and others in narratology "has not penetrated into other disciplines." He is apparently ignorant of years of vibrant research in many disciplines -- theoretical analysis and studies of practices. Many in the