The emotional dimensions of learning and narrative auto/biographies have been treated gingerly or simply glossed over in qualitative interviewing for decades. While the qualitative biographical and life story interview has achieved a considerable degree of sophistication and wide use, the aspect of the language of the narrator, in particular with regard to experiences of emotion, seems to be still too seldom considered from up close. This paper seeks to suggest reasons for adjusting this imbalance.

The emotional dimensions of learning and narrative auto/biographies have been treated gingerly or simply glossed over in qualitative interviewing for decades. While the qualitative biographical and life story interview has achieved a considerable degree of sophistication and wide use, the aspect of the language of the narrator, in particular with regard to experiences of emotion, seems to be still too seldom considered from up close. This paper seeks to suggest reasons for adjusting this imbalance.