The Contributions of Roy Schafer and Donald Spence to the Study of Narrative

This review considers the sense given to the term "narrative" in the work of Roy Schafer and Donald Spence. Roy Schafer's interest in narrative came through his concept of action language, which was an attempt to challenge and revise traditional Freudian metapsychology. Emphasis upon narrative has given Schafer a new view upon traditional theory and practice. Although Spence is equally iconoclastic and challenging, his use of the term differs markedly from Schafer's. The study contrasts the different positions Spence and Schafer arrived at through exploration of narrative, particularly their different attitudes to the problem of verifiability.