Re-storied by Beauty: On Self-Understanding in the Ricoeur-Carr Discussions on Narrative

Authors

  • Nathaniel G Samuel St Thomas University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11575/jah.v0i1.53250

Keywords:

narrative, hermeneutics, identity

Abstract

This essay examines the issue of self-understanding, following Paul Ricoeur who characterizes it as one of the three dimensions of a literary work. The essay places the issue in the context of Ricoeur’s discussions with David Carr on self-understanding or selfhood identity, demonstrating where the two theorists differ, but ultimately proposing how they complement each other to enrich the issue. I argue that the two converge at a significant point – that selfhood-identity is mediated by a host of cultural artifacts, all experienced as narrative. I support this thesis by exploring the way in which the transcultural symbol of sharing a meal can mediate self-understanding, and occasion the narrative re-storying of a life. Attending to the character of General Loewenhielm in Isak Dinesen’s (1993) Babette’s Feast, I describe the feast as an event of beauty, arguing how this worked to restore a sense of unity to the General’s life.

Keywords: Self-understanding, identity, narrative, Paul Ricoeur, David Carr, beauty, Babette's feast

Author Biography

Nathaniel G Samuel, St Thomas University

Assistant Professor, School of Theology and Ministry

References

Carr, D. (1986). Time, narrative, and history. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Carr, D., Taylor, C., & Ricoeur, P. (1991). Discussion: Ricoeur on narrative. In D. Wood (Ed.), On Paul Ricoeur: narrative and interpretation (pp. 160-187). London: Routledge.

Dinesen, I. (1993). Babette's feast. In Anecdotes of destiny and Ehrengard. New York: Vintage Books.

Hart, D. B. (2003). The beauty of the infinite: The aesthetics of Christian truth. Grand Rapids, MI: Mich. W.B. Eerdmans.

Kearney, R. (2006). Parsing narrative - Story, history, life. Human Studies, 29(4), 477-490.

Keen, S. (2006). A theory of narrative empathy. Narrative, 14(3), 207-236.

Ricoeur, P. (1971). The model of the text: Meaningful action considered as a text. Social Research, 38(3), 529-562.

Ricoeur, P. (1991a). Life in quest of narrative. In D. Wood (Ed.), On Paul Ricoeur: Narrative and interpretation (pp. 20-33). London, UK: Routledge.

Ricoeur, P. (1991b). Narrative identity. In D. Wood (Ed.), On Paul Ricoeur: Narrative and interpretation (pp. 188-199). London, UK: Routledge.

Ricoeur, P. (1994). The self and narrative identity. In Oneself as another, Trans K. Blamey, (pp. 140-168). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Downloads

Published

2015-03-17

Issue

2015

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  • Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).