Author Description

Few Conversational Topics Can Be As Significant As Our Troubles In Life, Whether Everyday And Commonplace, Or More Exceptional And Disturbing. In Groundbreaking Research Conducted With John Lee At The University Of Manchester Uk, Gail Jefferson Turned The Microscope On How People Talk About Their Troubles, Not In Any Professional Or Therapeutic Setting, But In Their Ordinary Conversations With Family And Friends. Through Recordings Of Interactions In Which People Talk About Problems They're Having With Their Children, Concerns About Their Health, Financial Problems, Marital And Relationship Difficulties (their Own Or Other People's), Examination Failures, Dramatic Events Such As Burglaries Or A House Fire And Other Such Troubles, Jefferson Explores The Interactional Dynamics And Complexities Of Introducing Such Topics, Of How Speakers Sustain And Elaborate Their Descriptions And Accounts Of Their Troubles, How Participants Align And Affiliate With One Another, And Finally Manage To Move Away From Such Topics. The Studies Jefferson Published Out Of That Remarkable Period Of Research Have Been Collected Together In This Volume. They Are As Insightful And Informative About How We Talk About Our Troubles, As They Are Innovative In The Development And Application Of Conversation Analysis. Introduction: Talking About Troubles; An Introduction: Paul Drew, John Heritage, Gene Lerner & Anita Pomerantz -- Chapter 1: On The Sequential Organization Of Troubles-talk In Ordinary Conversation -- Chapter 2: On 'trouble-premonitory' Response To Inquiry -- Chapter 3: The Rejection Of Advice: Managing The Problematic Convergence Of A'troubles-telling' And A 'service Encounter' -- Chapter 4: On The Interactional Unpackaging Of A 'gloss' -- Chapter 5: On The Organization Of Laughter In Talk About Troubles -- Chapter 6: On Stepwise Transition From Talk About A Trouble To Inappropriately Next Positioned Matters. Gail Jefferson; Edited By Paul Drew, John Heritage, Gene Lerner, And Anita Pomerantz. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.