
Sébastien Tutenges
Associate Professor | Senior Lecturer

Drinking stories as a narrative genre : The five classic themes
Author
Summary, in English
Drinking stories feature widely in Western societies. Many people eagerly share their stories in the aftermath of drinking events. These stories are also common in books, movies, music and the media. Based on qualitative interviews with 104 young Norwegian heavy episodic drinkers, the article seeks to establish drinking stories as a distinct narrative genre. We argue that this narrative genre of drinking stories comes from an oral storytelling tradition which uses transgressions to trigger interest, entertain, and challenge commonly held views. These transgressions typically come in the form of playful violations of conventions and common sense and tend to centre around five classic themes: sex, bodily harm, bodily fluids, lawbreaking and pranks. While often dismissed as trivial, vulgar and of little literary value, drinking stories are highly valued by many people and have significant consequences for how people experience drinking and behave while being drunk.
Department/s
- Department of Sociology
- Sociology
- Social Anthropology
Publishing year
2019-11-01
Language
English
Pages
406-419
Publication/Series
Acta Sociologica
Volume
62
Issue
4
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Topic
- Other Social Sciences
Keywords
- alcohol
- drinking story
- genre
- narrative analysis
- narrative criminology
- transgression
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0001-6993