Between “If Someone Would Write My Story” and “They Keep Mumbling”

Abstract

Abstract This chapter critically examines how life stories function as both personal resources and social constructs within the context of aging and intergenerational relationships. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 26 older (ages 60–85) and 25 younger (ages 30–59) Romanian adults, it explores how older people narrate their lives and how younger generations interpret—or resist—these narratives. Using thematic and semiotic analysis, the study identifies points of narrative opacity and introduces the concepts of narrative decline and narrative thirst to describe tensions in how life stories are shared and received. The chapter argues that storytelling in later life is shaped by cultural expectations, dialogical encounters, and ethical attentiveness in research practice. Ultimately, it calls for a critical narrative gerontology that recognizes the ambivalence, complexity, and relational nature of narrating aging.

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