• Prologue


• 1. In the Beginning: The Story Behind the Book


• 2. Medium with Milk: Setting the Scene


• 3. The Story of My Life: Narrative as Metaphor


• 4. The Story of My Life II: Novelty, Identity, and Narrative


• 5. Hollyhocks and Hummingbirds: The Biographical Imperative


• 6. Friends and Lovers: Narrative in Relationship


• 7. The Tales that Bind: Narrative and Community


• 8. Cigar in the Night: Storying the Past


• 9. World without End: Story and Spirit


• Epilogue


• Appendix: Readings Between the Lines: A Bibliographic Note


• References


• Index

William L. Randall is Professor of Gerontology at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. Brought up in rural New Brunswick, he studied at Harvard, Cambridge Princeton Seminary, and the University of Toronto. Prior to entering academic life, he served for ten years as a minister with the United Church of Canada. Since then he has authored, co-authored, or co-edited 5 books and written 35 articles and chapters on topics related to narrative and aging. He is the principal organizer of the international conference Narrative Matters and is co-editor of the journal Narrative Works: Issues, Investigations, Interventions.

In The Narrative Complexity of Ordinary Life, William L. Randall shows how narrative psychology is integral to how we navigate everyday life. He makes the case that all people function as narrative psychologists by continually storying their lives--as well as those of others--in memory and imagination.