29.9. Samuli Björninen: Factual narrative: its history, genres and uses

Room Pinni B4113 or Zoom (Link). (Meeting ID: 668 4700 7494 Passcode: 045076)

Factual narrative: its history, genres and uses

In this presentation, Samuli Björninen proposes a new way of understanding factual narrative that is informed, on the one hand, by the interdisciplinary field of narrative studies, and, on the other hand, by the conceptual history of factuality, particularly during the early modern era, often presented as the incubator for the modern epistemologies of truth, untruth and invention.

In literary narratology, the study of factual narrative has been labeled the “missing paradigm” by Monika Fludernik. When factual narrative has been theorized by narratologists, the discussion has often been shaped by the bias towards the fictional and a binary view of fictional and factual narrative. The situation is quite different if factual narrative is approached from other corners of the interdisciplinary field. In sociolinguistic narrative theory that focuses on everyday storytelling, factuality has generally been the implicit norm, and the rhetorical understanding of narratio has traditionally been linked to arranging factual matters to perform distinct epistemological work.

During the talk, Björninen looks at three problems in the theories of factual narrative:

1. the dichotomic view of fictionality and factuality
2. the conflation of factuality with truthfulness and referentiality
3. the resultant emphasis on communicative intent, instead of asking what factuality could mean on the level of narrative form and content

Drawing from examples showing how fact and factual narrative were understood and used in the late 17^th to 18^th Century England, Björninen will argue that the early modern conceptualizations offer a groundwork for theorizing factual narrative in a way that avoids some of the above problems and helps define it as a distinctive coming-together of form, content and function.

The presentation is connected to research project, “Little Giants of Knowledge: The Rhetoric of Factuality and Factual Narratives in the Modern History of Knowledge”, funded by the Kone Foundation (2026–2027).

This talk is part of Research Centre Narrare’s Narrative Studies Seminar, which is open to all interested participants. The aim of the seminar is to allow for a multi- and interdisciplinary discussion on data, methods, theories, and the state of narrative research. Sessions consist of introductory presentations by researchers from different career stages and different fields studying narratives at Tampere University (up to 20 min), and general discussion.

Narrative Studies Seminar – Autumn 2026 Programme

15.9. Jussi Lahtinen: Finnish Working-Class Literature and Post-War National Narratives (1945–2025)
Room: Pinni B4113

29.9. Samuli Björninen: Factual narrative: its history, genres and uses
Room: Pinni B4113

6.10. Niki Iisakkila: Narrative Space: World-Building Across Media
Room: Pinni B4113

27.10. Aletta Kemppainen: Moderni avioliittojuoni Kinsellan ja Kajannon chick lit -teoksissa The Burnout (2023) ja Mittoja ja tilaustöitä (2019)
Tila: Pinni B3117

10.11. Noora Raiskio: The narrative means, styles, and subject matters in Finnish graphic medicine zines
Room: Pinni B3117

24.11. Olga Andreevskikh: Post-2022 queer Russophone media spaces: A shattered past, an uncertain future
Room: Pinni B3117

1.12. Helena Mäntyniemi: From Captivity to Consent: Gothic Lineages in Harry Potter Fanfiction Dark Romance Stories
Room: Pinni B3117

8.12. Matias Nurminen & Juha Raipola: Journalismin horjuvat merkitykset: piittaamattomat tulkinnat ja tiedon ehtojen murros
Tila: Pinni B3117

Updates and further information will be published on Narrare’s webpage.