One of the most important features of the narrative turn, in both theoretical discourse and fiction, is a new way of emphasizing the temporal and mediated character of the process in which subjects interpret their experiences and become who they are. A productive framework for discussing this shift is provided by the contemporary debate on whether we live or tell stories. I shall argue that the difference between the onto-logical commitments underlying the nouveau roman and the novels of the narrative turn corresponds to a crucial difference in the contemporary debate on the relation between narrative and experience.