Reality of Silence in Narratives about the Departed

The purpose of this paper is to consider the "Reality of silence," that is, the effect of silence in "interview as interaction" in narratives about the departed, while describing the aspects of the interaction, & how the interviewer interpreted the silence & developed the interview. Therefore in this paper I examine these points using as a case study a narrative about the departed from a member of the NPO group "Shibafu-spirit." "Silence" in the interview has not been described, or even if described it seems to not to have been taken it consideration as part of the dynamics of the interview itself. Based on such concerns, in this paper I first review the perspective of "interview as interaction." I then present the analysis viewpoint to examine the "Reality of silence," that is, the effect of silence on the interview as interaction. The analysis viewpoint is one that treats the descriptive context, "what could not be narrated," which is the state where the stability & the consistency of the narrative is threatened from inside by the "hole" in the narrative, & the interaction that is the interviewer's inferences, interpretation, posture & silence in the interview as the act of "describing the interaction." Through this consideration, I point out the working of "Silence" as it occurred from narratives on "interview as interaction"; (1) "Silence" threatens the stability & the consistency of narrative, & then "what could not be narrated" appears in the narrative; (2) "Silence" becomes the turning point of "change of narratives" when the researcher recognizes the existence of "silence," makes a silence a starting point, & develops the interview. In this paper, I call such working of "Silence" in "interview as interaction" the "Reality of silence." I think this approach to "interview as interaction" serves as an effective analytical viewpoint to enable description in greater depth of "interview as interaction.". Adapted from the source document.