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.

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Published

2015-03-17

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Section

Articles