According to Benjamin, the story ha

According to Benjamin, the story had its beginnings in craft labor. He conjures up an image of a storyteller spinning his tale while his listeners spin and weave cloth, with the rhythm of the story and the rhythm of the work interpenetrating. The purpose of the story is to give counsel, Benjamin says, which presupposes a physical community that speaker and listener cohabit, and more profoundly a community of values they share. The novel is distinguished from the story in being written. Following Lukâcs, Benjamin sees the novel as signifying a “transcendental homelessness” (p. 99), an essential isolation reflected in its attempt to grasp the meaning of life. Since this meaning can be apparent only in retrospect, after the whole shape of a life is known, the novel positions itself ontologically as a remembrance. The story, by contrast, addresses itself to how the listener can enrich his life as he lives it. Rather than try to grasp the whole, it contributes to the ongoingness of process.