In this volume, the seventeeth of the “Studies in narrative” series, the notion of narrative identity is examined in detail from the perspective of various disciplines. The book shows that narrative identity has been productively defined in different ways in different research fields.
This volume is composed of ten chapters, with an introduction where some important tendencies for future research on narrative identity are first pointed out. The following ten chapters are dedicated to the discussion of narrativity and narrative identities from different disciplines. Ch. 1 examines the correlation of narrativity and morality, revealing that identity and empathy are both constituted by narratives. Ch. 2 explores the notion of persona according to William James's seminal reflections on self and identity on the one hand and Keith Richard's Life on the other hand, revealing the importance of congruence and personal continuity for the construction of narrative identity. Ch. 3 discusses the relationship between heterotopic self-positioning and narrative identity and shows that adherence to a plurality of social worlds provides the teller with options for self-positioning in his/her self-narratives. Ch. 4 examines how perspectives can be constructed in storytelling by positioning resources in relation to the teller's self. Two examples of dealing with the ambiguity of the eyes and voices of others in the stories of two women with severe chronic health conditions are analyzed in detail in this chapter. In Ch. 5, narrative identity is discussed from the socionarratological perspective. The chapter shows that narrative identity is always in process of change and reformation rather than being stable or static.
Ch. 6 discusses fictional narratives and narrative perspectives that transcend mimetic and experiential theories of interpretation and narrative in various forms and manners. It is pointed out that fictional narrative opens up new narrative identities. Narrative identity in Jeffery Eugenides's Middlesex is discussed in Ch. 7, which reveals that narratives in this epic novel provide an indefinite selfhood. Narrative identity is reformulated as being open-ended. Ch. 8 explores self-writing, forgiveness, and ethics in Ian McEwan's Atonement; the author argues that confessional self-writing cannot attain either truth or self-forgiveness. Ch. 9 focuses on queer subjects as heteronormativity's marginalized others. Quentin Crisp's life writing is analyzed, and it is shown that narrative inhibition of negativity turns Crisp's failure in life into a success later in his life. Ch. 10 discusses narrative identity in confessional poetry from a poetic perspective. It is found that identity in lyrical texts can be discussed more poignantly by using the concept of narrative identity.
In a word, an interdisciplinary understanding of narrative identity is presented in this volume, which shows how productive the notion of narrative identity is from various perspectives ranging from morality, persona, and discursive space to socionarratology. It is a very useful book for those interested in both narratives and identity research.
