the post-modern identity crisis a narratological exploration of identity_by jonathan pearmain
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The Post-Modern Identity Crisis:
A Narratological Exploration of Identity.
By Jonathan Pearmain
Ba (Hons) CG Art and Animation
UCA
2012
Word Count: 8552
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Contents
Introduction:
Identity as Narrative i
Chapter One:
The Development of Post-Structuralist Narratology 1
Chapter Two:
The Point of 'Being' 6
Chapter Three:
Fractured Stories 12
Conclusion:
Post-Post-Structuralism 18Bibliography 21
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Introduction
Identity as Narrative
The human identity is an elusive and much sought after concept. Its realisation and portrayal
has been and continues to be the focus of a variety of disciplines; across art, music, performance. As
an area of study, it has fascinated philosophers throughout the centuries; thinkers that have sought to
question the very nature of existence, the purpose of 'being'. The desire to discover a supposed
'truth' to our existence is unique to the human mind, the quest to provide the time we are alive,
indeed the entirety of our species, with a point an identity.
An identity gives meaning a position within the world, an origin to have come from and a
purpose to strive for. It becomes the narrative of the human life, a narrative for existence.
A narrative is simply a story, an account of the perception of things moving through time.
Professor Mark Currie, who's work will feature prominently in this dissertation, states that
Narrative is as inescapable as language in general, or as cause and effect, as a mode of thinking
and being (Currie, 1998:2). This idea, that narrative in inherently human, will be a key point of
discussion within this essay as will its role as either constructing identity, or being constructed by
it. Narratology's post-structuralist methods, of deconstruction and narrative theory, will allow us to
explore the identity as narrative and the very concept of 'being'.
Initially, the study of narratology will be discussed its methodologies and principles
explored, as well as an account of it history. Narratology has undergone a dramatic change in the
last century, from a traditional literary based discipline it has expanded to linguistic then to a
anthropological method of studying identities and cultures across humanity. Chapter one will
identify a working definition of Narratology and enable us to then look further into its
understanding of 'being'.
The concept of 'being', the idea of a consciousness, will also be examined. Before discussing
how a narratological approach may aid in the understanding and definition of an identity, it must be
established exactly what forms the identity; what is the point of it? And why is so important to keep
it free from oppression? This chapter will focus on exposing the malleability of objective
knowledge, and the fickle goal that is 'liberty'. It will then attempt to derive what actually forms a
consciousness, and what implication this has on identity. The principles thinkers used as reference
for these ideas will be the French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre and the German philospher, Martin
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Heidegger. Combined with the work of other post-structuralist and post-modernist writers, they will
help establish conclusions from which we can reach the crux of this dissertation: can narratological
thinking allow us to understand better, and even construct better, the narrative of the human identity
and remain free from the very paradoxes and fallacies it reveals regarding the concept of
narrative.
It is a common rebuke to the post-structuralist mode of thought to state that it is impossible
for it to provide any conclusion, and that it even revels in this inability to satisfy. Indeed the
influential post-modern thinker, Jacques Derrida, saw no shame in labelling his work 'viral'. He
destabilised institutions without any intention of replacing them with some enlightened idea he
repelled the very idea of enlightenment.
The thoughts of American philosopher, John Searle, and British philosopher, Roger Scruton,are the primary opposition to post-structuralism in this dissertation. They champion a more
empirical outlook, seeing the destructive, abstract and inconclusive nature of post-structuralism as
nihilistic, 'trivial' and 'phony'. Their points and merit will be considered and answered in turn.
By the end of this essay the aim of the last chapter will be to re-define narrative from a post-
structuralist point of view perhaps what could be termed a post-post-modern perspective. It is
understood that it was necessary for the deconstructionist cultural revolution of the 20 th century to
destroy the authority of the grand-narrative ; but its critics do have a valid argument in striving to
find some resolution to this crisis identification. What can be re-constructed using a narratological
understanding of the consciousness to define identity in such a way that it can be attainable? How
does narrative help us to move on from the post-modernist apocalypse?
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Chapter One
The Development of Post-Structuralist Narratology
To delve deeper in the implication of narratology upon the understanding of the human
idenity, first an understanding of narratology must be established. As a methodology or mode of
thought, it has crossed disciplines and is the result of a vast variety of contributors and thinkers. In
this chapter a brief account of narratology's transformation into a post-structuralist study will be
given, and its reasons discussed. Its transition from a purely linguistic and literary based discipline
to an anthropological one is key to the rest of this essay's use of it methodologies and reasoning;
therefore important to outline.
A primary source of knowledge on the subject is Professor of Contemporary Literature at the
Queen Mary University of London, Mark Currie. His work on the theory and structure of narrativeis notable and provides an excellent overview of narratology and its past. As narratology during the
post-modern era is approached, the work of French philosopher Jacques Derrida will also be
introduced using readings from Jeff Collins, Bill Mayblin and American cultural theorist Hugh
Silverman to better understand Derrida's impact. Work from French sociologist, Jean Baudrillard,
will also be included and studied.
As an opposition to many of post-structuralism's arguments, Professor of Philosophy at the
University of California, John Searle's thoughts will be brought to bear his frustration at
narratology's seeming lack of solution, and deconstruction's denial of any such solution existing.
By the end of this chapter we will be ready to delve deeper into the study of the human
identity and the role narratology plays in allowing us to define it.
Narratology's definition has changed dramatically over the last century; transforming from a
structuralist study of literature to a contemporary study of identity. German Professor of Literary
Theory, Jan Christoph Meister provides a concise summary of narratology, stating thatnarratology
is a humanities discipline dedicated to the study of the logic, principles, and practices of narrative
representation(Meister, 2011). It has always been a study of narrative methodologies, but the
keyword here that separates Meister's definition from that of the early structuralists is
'representation'. It widens narratology's scope to include anywhere that narratives may be found.
Currie expands upon this further, that today's study recognises that narrative is central to the
representation of identity, in personal memory and self-representation or in the collective identity
such as regions, nations, race and gender (Currie, 1998:2). The applying of principles found in
traditional narrative theory to humanity is a leap that allowed existence to be analysed under a new
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microscope, providing new understanding and interpretation.
To understand the significance of the shift in narratological study, it must be understood
what is meant by 'classical narratology' and who its main contributors were. In the introduction to
Postclassical Narratology, editors Alber and Monika outline a suitable compendium:
What is subsumed under classical narratology primarily embraces the work of the
French structural-ists (Roland Barthes, Claude Bremond, Tzvetan Todorov, A. J. Greimas,
and Grard Genette), but also the German tradition in narrative theory (Eberhard Lmmert
and Franz Karl Stanzel) (Abler & Monika, 2010:1-2).
While today structuralism is considered applicable outside of linguistics taking itsunderstanding of language and using these principles to investigate cultural and social structures
in its genesis in structural linguistics it examines components in their relationships of difference,
exchange, [and] substitution (Collins & Mayblin, 2005:57). The key philosophy that emerged was
the understanding that nothing existed or could be defined in isolation; that all elements within
language gained their definitions through their relationship with other components. The significant
result of this mode of thought was that it altered the focus of the search for 'meaning' from the
whole to the individual elements. Eventually structuralism's relevance in language came under
critique during the 1950's; however its methods were taken to anthropological level garnering
widespread interest.
This transition from the formalist and structuralist narratologies of the recent past into a
study of humanity allowed for the classical linguistic methods, which were now being superseded
by more modern disciplines, to be utilised in forming a narratology capable of bringing its
expertise to bear on narratives wherever they can be found, which is everywhere (Currie, 1998:1).
Although structural linguistics was being criticised in the latter 20 th century as an impoverished
and thoroughly inadequate conception of language (Chomsky, 1972:20), it was also being
recognised during the post-modern and post-structuralist era as a starting point for more
sociological study. In theEncyclopedia of Contemporary Literary Theory, this change was
characterised by an increase of interest in non-literary narratives and by an influx of ideas from
other disciplines (Ryan & Van Alphen, 1993:112).
One such contributor was the French philosopher, Jacques Derrida. He was hugely
responsible for the destabilising of structuralism's logocentric principles, but also developing many
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of its key claims especially surrounding the interrelation of components. Whilst Derrida derided
the search for some Platonic truth, he built upon what structuralist writers had already established in
the search for meaning, through the study of the bearing of elements upon each other within a
system coining the term: Deconstruction. In his book,Derrida and Deconstruction, Silverman
puts forward an explanation of deconstruction's agenda:
Deconstruction is concerned with offering an account of what is going on in a text
not by seeking out its meaning, or its component parts, or its systematic implications
but rather by marking off its relations to other texts, its contexts, its sub-texts
(Silverman, 1989:4).
Claiming that all elements, styles and forms... figures of speech, metaphors, even layout onthe page are neversimply present or absent (Derrida, cited in Collins & Mayblin, 2005:12, 70),
Derrida proposed, similar to structuralism, that observing the correlations - or the lack thereof
between systems was the key to the correct study of them. Counter to structuralism, Derrida sought
no external truth; instead proposing that to seek true or real meaning was not only unattainable
but also undesirable.
A notable opponent to Derrida's deconstruction, and indeed the post-modern and post-
structuralist viewpoint in general, is Professor John Searle. Frustrated by the lack of any apparent
conclusion or argument presented by post-modernism, Searle sees it as unhelpful and fogging of the
pursuit of knowledge. He outlines his key issues with the position below:
According to this view, we never attain certain, objective, and universal knowledge
at all... it is impossible to have objectivity, because all claims to knowledge are always
perspectival; they are always made from a certain subjective point of view it is
impossible to have universality, because all science is produced in local, historical
circumstances and is subject to all of the constraints imposed by those circumstances
(Searle, 2003:5).
Searle's frustration is clear. The proposition that the inter-textual nature of not only
language, but also knowledge and identity, makes futile any attempt to gain any concrete truth, is
clearly nihilistic to him the denial of any external truth cannot be a self-sustaining view and is
merely making claims that... under analysis often turn out to be silly or trivial. Indeed he writes
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that deconstruction is simply a self-justiying enterprise, criticising its patrons as nave - stating
they think that since everything is phony anyway, the phoniness of deconstruction is somehow
acceptable, indeed commendable (Searle, 1984).
His response is to propose a difference between knowledge claims and the representation of
knowledge, that the perspectival character of representation and knowledge does not imply that
the knowledge claims in question are dependent on the preferences, attitudes, prejudices,
predilections, of observers. The existence of objectivity is in no way threatened by the perspectival
character of knowledge and representation (Searle, 2003:7). This view concedes that knowledge is
vulnerable to prejudice, that its profundity and truth can be distorted but it insists that it is folly to
believe that any knowledge cannot be claimed to be independent of the aforementioned corruption.
A post-structuralist argument however would put forward the view that the representation ofknowledge is all there is there exists no external truths, no external meaning. Knowledge is
merely assembled and shared as a simulacrum; subject to an observer's interpretation. Currie states
this succinctly, writing that perception of the real world is determined by the particular language
through which reality is being seen. Different languages encode the world in different ways, so that
reality can be seen as culturally relative (Currie, 1998:36). It is interesting to note that Currie
does admit the existence of 'the real'. Of course things exist whether or not they are perceived by
sentient observers; but Currie also attaches no value or 'truth' to this world of the real. Instead all
meaning is derived purely through the interrelation of cultural interpretations.
Rather than being nihilistic, Derrida's view that no element can function without relating to
another element which itself is not simply present,becomes the basis for a rich tapestry of
correlating and conflicting 'knowledge' that is subject to endless exploration and re-interpretation.
The fact that each element is constituted on the basis of the trace in it of the other elements of the
system (Derrida, cited in Collins & Mayblin, 2005:70), leads to the rather utopian view that
humanity's various cultures are unified and defined through their differences and disagreements as
much as their similarities.
Once this view is established, what freedom or condemnation, as Searle would have it
does it bring? Narratology's transformation and re-appropriation over the last century is in itself a
narrative, one linked closely to the development of modern philosophy; which Baudrillard outlines
thus:
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Over the years, the Beautiful, the Good, and the True have played out a strange
game of musical chairs. In the beginning, Good and moral values reign supreme. But then
Evil assumes an aesthetic value: ugliness becomes beautiful. This is all swept away by the
Real which, being neither beautiful or ugly, becomes true. Objectivity becomes the
dominant moral value. But not for long, for in the end the simulacrum and the Virtual win
out over all values (Baudrillard, 2003:6).
While Baudrillard takes a rather fatalistic view of the rise of the Virtual, he sums up well the
crux of post-structuralist narratology's position which is to supersede any existence of the Real
in return for an acceptance of a self-reflexive existence. This narrative can be traced throughout
language, literature, art, music, politics human identity as a whole. The lack of logocentrism, a
lack of any 'truth' to be sought, is something to be preserved and indeed, according Baudrillard,the very cornerstone upon which our survival as a species relies, Only something which has
purpose comes to an end, since once that purpose is achieved, all that remains is for it to disappear.
The human species has survived only because it has no final purpose. Those who have tried to give
it one have generally sent it hurtling to its destruction (Baudrillard, 2003:21).
In this chapter then, we have established a suitable definition of narratology and its
methodologies. It's linguistic origins have been discussed and its re-appropriation as a sociological
study examined. The post-structuralist agenda of denying any universal truth or meaning is key to a
narratological study of identity that the emphasis is placed up the relationship of component parts,
and the proxemics of that system in relation to others.
The issue with the sense of nihilism evoked by post-modernist thinking has been raised and
not yet answered the following chapters will discuss whether narratology can give us any solution,
or if a solution is even desirable? Analysing the identity is always an introspective exercise
undertaken in the hope of shedding more light on what it is to exist as a conscious human being,
what it means even to be conscious. This will be the focus of the next chapter.
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Chapter Two
The Point of 'Being'
In the previous chapter we ascertained an understanding of contemporary narratology and its
relevance to the study of the human identity. The question was also raised as to whether it was able
to provide any response to the criticism that it, along with much other post-modern and post-
structuralist thought, was in fact empty and inconclusive postulating. Before discussing whether
narratology can provide more than mere critique, it must be discussed as to what exactly is the so
desperately sought concept: identity. From where does it emerge, and what is the point of it?
As an empirical voice - and in opposition to the inconclusivity of deconstructive thinking -
English philosopher, Roger Scruton's thoughts on the motives of post-modernism and the pursuit of
liberty will be brought to bear. In answer, the work of Mark Currie will continue to be used todefend the importance of narratology in preserving the liberty of the identity. To help define liberty,
the seminal work of British social and political theorist: Sir Isaiah Berlin will be referred to, in
tandem with the work of British philosopher John Stuart Mill.
To better understand identity, and its vulnerability to influence, the work of existentialist
French philosopher: Jean-Paul Sartre, will be used as a key to understanding the nature of human
consciousness and being. To further develop this, the thoughts of German philosopher Martin
Heidegger will also be referred to.
Once this chapter has explored the susceptibility of identity to oppression or persuasion,
narratology's role in forming and protecting the identity can be discussed.
Narratology, along with western culture as a whole, underwent dramatic changes in the latter
half of the 20th century a change which brought controversy, confusion and irreversible impact on
human identity. Whatever label be applied to this cultural revolution be it counter-culturalism,
deconstructionism or post-modernism they aim to retain the same core agenda, which is to
'liberate' the student from the oppressive structures of the traditional curriculum, and also from the
social institutions which that curriculum covertly endorsed (Scruton, 2012:57). After dramatic
increases in scientific discoveries and knowledge of the last century, the rise of power and the
institution, and the betrayal of that trust through the examples of the corruption and manipulation of
knowledge - shown by the wars and dictators in the 20th century - groups of philosophers and
society as a whole began to grow wary of being part of grander narratives and the motivations
behind those who promoted them.
It was clear that the 'pure knowledge' sought by the Enlightenment, that would bring
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humanity into the modern as a unified society, was not beyond distortion and nepotism. Currie
states a truth that was becoming clear to new thinkers, thatsocial power derives from moral
sympathy which is controllable by techniques of information management and not by rectitude
(Currie, 1998:22). Knowledge was revealed as something malleable, a means to an end for those
with power to influence others. The identity of the self, separate from authority, became of the
utmost import and its liberty sacred.
Before discussing the importance of narratology in emancipating the identity in pursuit of
liberty, first an initial understanding of liberty will be established. Liberty, or freedom, is a state of
being that features as a goal in many human ideals or projects in some form or another. Berlin
supports this in his work: Two Concepts of Liberty, writing that almost every moralist in human
history has praised freedom. However, he also makes clear its ambiguity, like happiness andgoodness, like nature and reality, it is a term whose meaning is so porous that there is little
interpretation that it seems able to resist (Berlin, 1969:2). His wording is appropriate, that
freedom is unable to 'resist' any interpretation applied to it, meaning it's definition is subject to the
intent of its user.
It is generally agreed across philosophy that complete freedom is both an impossibility and
undesirable for a civilised society. Berlin makes it clear that it was obvious to classical philosophers
that'natural' freedom1would lead to social chaos in which men's minimum needs would not be
satisfied; or else the liberties of the weak would be suppressed by the strong (Berlin, 1969:3). The
capability of the sentient to sympathise and morally reason, and to also manipulate others'
reasoning, results in the extortion of the many for the benefit of the few - based purely on principles
such as physical or intellectual strength. An unethical and barbaric system.
Mill sought to examine common factors in humanity's approach to establishing society, and
although his work agrees with Berlin's need for necessary restraints upon society, statingall that
makes existence valuable to any one, depends on the enforcement of restraints upon the actions of
other people, he highlighted the difficulty of establishing what these rules should be. Facing the
fact that no two ages, and scarcely any two countries, have decided it alike; and the decision of
one age or country is a wonder to another, Mill sought to find ubiquity in the methods behind the
establishment of these laws, stating rather simply that the likings and dislikings of society are
thus the main thing which has practically determined the rules laid down for general observance,
under the penalties of law or opinion (Mill, 1859). He goes on to state that the inefficiency and
vulnerability of this methodology lies in its susceptibility to the the whim and manipulation of those
1 a state in which all men could boundlessly interfere with all other men (Berlin, 1969:3)
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with power and control whose despotic rule interferes with personal freedom and identity. So
identity is crucial to withstanding malicious intent and manipulation; and avoiding navety.
Narratology's awareness of the importance of narrative in human consciousness exposes the
weakness and subjection of that very fact. Currie warns that narrative is one of the ways in which
identity, the ideological subject, is manufactured (Currie, 1998:32), but surely this is encouraging?
It reinforces the concept that our identities can be protected from corruption by creating our own
narratives that we prescribe; rather than being at the mercy of external tyranny.
This is however to take a rather modernist view; that we are the masters of our own
enlightenment but Currie does not promote an unlocking of the 'real' or an inner potential. A
deconstructionist understanding of identity strips it of any internal meaning; revealing that identity
is not within us because it only exists as narrative. He argues that identity, or any 'true' meaning,cannot be formed in isolation that all the 'real' is merely a web of interrelation between elements.
Sartre puts it thus, [appearances] are all equal, they all refer to other appearances, and none of
them is privileged (Sartre, 2001:45). Continuing in this vein, Currie proposes that the only way to
explain who we are is to tell our own story ... that we learn how to self-narrate from the outside,
from other stories, and particularly through the process of identification with other characters
(Currie, 1998:17).
It is the inescapable symbiosis of existence that makes identity vulnerable to external
influence and corruption; yet also what makes us irrevocably human. Sentient consciousness is
dependant upon it.
This is not to say that the individual is lost in this web of blurred simulacra quite the
opposite, it is what enables the forming of one's self. Without this realisation Heidegger suggests
that even the individual would be unable to relate himself on his own to a being, to something that
remained selfsame, that is, he would be unable to be human (Heidegger, 2010:46). It is interesting
to note that Heidegger equates being able to relate to oneself as necessary to being human; that in
existing as human one is inherently then able to be aware of one's own consciousness and identity.
This view could be summed up in the existentialist phrase coined by Sartre as existence precedes
essence, that the 'real' or 'truth' of something is of less import and in fact created by the initial
existence of something that through existing a being manufactures its own value.
It could however tentatively be suggested that is an oversimplification, even a
misinterpretation of Sartre. Discussing consciousness' role in identity, Sartre writes,
Consciousness is a being whose existence posits its essence, and inversely it is consciousness of a
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being, whose essence implies its existence; that is, in which appearance lays claim to being
(Sartre, 2001:62). Initially somewhat enigmatic and impenetrable, Sartre's meaning can be
unpacked thus. Sartre initially states that the essence, the true value, of consciousness is only
realised through its initial existence that it creates its own essence; in accordance with the
traditional existentialist view. However, Sartre then immediately concedes that it is the essence of
being the awareness of one's identity and 'real' self that implies our existence as sentient
human beings.
This simultaneous relationship between our interactions with the world and our
consciousness of these experiences is key. Sebastien Gardener, professor at university College
London, attempts to explain Sartre's thinking like so, Sartres point is that consciousness must be
grasped, not just as involving, but as identical with the relation of intending (Gardener,
2009:45), Consciousness defines its value through its own existence, whilst considering its ownexistence reflected by its essence. It is this perpetual reflection which constitutes the self and is
eventually dissolved in an identity (Sartre, 2001:65).
Our identities are formed through the synchronicity of our 'true' self as posited by merely
existing as a conscious being, and the effects of the subjection of that self to external narratives
upon its existence.
An understanding then of narrative's role in defining our identities presents a problem:
narratives are logocentric. Writers Jeff Collins and Bill Mayblin, in their workIntroducing Derrida,
define logocentrism as the drive to ground truth in a single ultimate point an ultimate origin. In
searching for the 'real' or the 'true nature of things', Metaphysics ascribed truth to the logos, along
with the origin of truth in general. Metaphysics in its search for foundation is logocentric (Collins
& Mayblin, 2005:45). Surely this is the point of discovering our identities through grand narratives,
of religion, culture or society, that the subject seeks guidance from something outside themselves
some pure knowledge that is untouchable from human corruption? We have already established that
the consciousness exists as inseparable from experience; where is the error in seeking after
metaphysical knowledge to guide us?
The problem lies in the perception and the presentation of that knowledge. Lyotard
highlights the key issue, that knowledge and power are simply two sides of the same question: who
decides what knowledge is, and who knows what needs to be decided? (Lyotard, 1984:9). At the
end of chapter one it was ascertained that the 'real' does exist, but holds no inherit value beyond that
which consciousness places upon it. Since our consciousness is a being formed through our
relationship with other beings, our entire interpretation of the 'real' is authored by others. This
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awareness allows narratology to warn against legitimising grand narratives, since they hold no value
beyond that which is created by people they are no more than an act of authorial ventriloquy
where the ventriloquists own polemic can be hidden among the fictional voices of puppets (Currie
1998:19).
What, then, is a 'subject' to do? Once one has realised that one's inner life is constituted ...
by the illusion that one is a free agent, that they are in fact subject to some greater authority
(Currie, 1998:28), what enlightenment does this give us? Surely for narratology to offer any
solution is to become a narrative itself, another supposedly metaphysical conclusion that is in fact as
vulnerable to all the corruption it itself warns against.
We are left unsatisfied, nervous without some kind of emergent truth, yet afraid of drawing
any conclusion. It is perhaps the elusive and unwholesome nature of post-modernistic thinking thatleads Scruton to dismiss many of its contributors as manufacturers of junk thought (Scruton,
2012:183). Rather conversely to the typical view of post-modernism as anarchical, Scruton claims it
as utopian as any institution's attempt to order and change the world as it sees fit. It is guilty of what
Scruton calls the 'best case fallacy', which arises when hope prevails over reason, in the presence
of an important choice (Scruton, 2012:65). Post-modernism's self-awareness as a a virus ... not a
microbe ... neither living or non-living (Derrida, cited in Collins & Mayblin, 2005:16), as
something that can never truly be fulfilled, is merely aloofness, an avoidance of responsibility in the
face of reason. Scruton argues that they need never turn [their] backs on [their] utopian aims,
since utopia itself can never be realised and thus never disproved (Scruton, 2012:70), that its
destabilisation of any disciplined thought or metaphysical truth is simply a fortified citadel of
nonsense, a circular and self-justifying argument designed to accuse the critic of ignorance or
lack of logical skill (Scruton, 2012:181).
But is it the job of philosophy to provide conclusive answers? Currie does not argue that
post-structuralist's role is to provide an alternative to the corruptible meta-narratives it exposes but
merely to make one aware of it. This is in line with Heidegger's thoughts on the purpose of
philosophical thinking: Philosophy is not a worldview in the sense of the presentation of a picture
of the world that is constructed from the current results of the sciences today ... Making such
pictures of the world is not only artificial, derivative, and ineffectual, but is a fundamental delusion
about how humanity comes to know of beings as a whole (Heidegger, 2010:8). Philosophy is
perhaps much more about understanding ourselves, that we might in turn better understand the
reality within which we exist.
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Over the course of this chapter the concept of 'being' has been thoroughly examined, and
narrative established as a necessary component of it existence. Based upon the work of Heidegger
and Sartre this chapter has also begun to explore the co-dependant relationship between
consciousness and narrative that each is formative in the other.
However, it has also been highlighted that narrative is informed by external knowledge and
experience - thus exposing the subject to manipulation and coercion. The 'liberty' of the identity is
at the mercy of the person who's definition of 'liberty' the identity subscribes to. The malleability of
knowledge is a prominent danger to the identity.
Yet narratology, and post-structuralist thought in general, appears to give no answer once it
has pointed this fact out. The objection to the 'phoniness' of post-modernism has been mentioned
and has yet to be satisfactorily answered. How can the awareness of the 'real' and 'consciousness'
that narratology provides the human mind with, equip it in creating a firmer understanding of theidentity, and aid in preserving it sanctity?
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Chapter Three
Fractured Stories
Now that a better understanding of the nature of 'being' has been established what role
does narrative play in forming the identity? Is identity itself a narrative? Or is it the result of one?
Using an understanding of narratology's approach to narrative systems, and the conclusions on the
nature of consciousness explored in chapter two, this chapter will aim to find a way for
narratological thinking to provide a basis for constructing an identity.
The work of prominent literary scholar and critic Marie-Laure Ryan will be used to outline
the subjectivity of the real, and the role of the consciousness in creating its own interpretation of the
'actual'. Narrative will be suggested as a tool for the construction of the identity, the work of Wolf
Werner (Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Graz, Austria) andMichael Bamberg (Professor of Psychology at Clark University, Massachusettes) will support this
claim.
However, the universal and teleological nature of their arguments will be challenged by
referring to the work of Friedrich Nietzche and his speculations on the source of human ambition,
and the work of Peter Raggat, senior lecturer in psychology at James Cook University, Australia.
His work on the multiplicity of narrative will be central in concluding the definition of identity and
the role narrative has to play.
Since narratologys iconoclastic rampage leaves narrative looking weak, malleable and
deceptive how are beings to form self-awareness without a constant paranoia as to whether they
are subscribing themselves to the will of others? In the introduction to their collection of essays
centring on identity within narratives, editors McAdams, Joesselson, and Lieblich, write that we
are all storytellers, and we are the stories we tell (McAdams, Josselson, and Lieblich, 2006:3).
Similar to Sartres idea of the cyclic conscious, this statement suggests identity is both implied by
and posits narrative. Werner draws a similar conclusion, confident that existing as narrative is
inherent to human self-realisation. Man can be defined as a 'storytelling animal', driven by an
instinctual need and intelligence which makes us the animal which demands an explanation, the
animal which asks Why' (Werner, 2003:185). However, post-structuralist narratology has already
warned us of the dangers of the human minds insistence in discovering some metaphysical truth as
a guide to existence; revealing it as an entirely subjective construct.
It has already been discussed that contemporary narratology doesnt seek to deny the
existence of the real, but rather deconstruct the value applied to it to change the focus to
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analysing the value the consciousness seemingly places upon it. Whilst it may be true that only one
world exists independently of the human mind, Ryan looks beyond this to what she perceives as
the more interesting area of the study, the human minds ability to depart from this world, select
another world as actual, and create through further mental acts a network of alternative possible
worlds around the new centre (Ryan, 1991:554). Actuality becomes subjective to the individual,
who willingly departs from the real and places some other truth at the centre of their reasoning.
This departure from the real has already been discussed as the very reason that grand-
narratives are to be treated with suspicion. But what are its implications on the individual narrative
of identity?
A possible conclusion to draw from post-structuralist narratology is that it doesnt dismiss
the mode of the narrative as unreliable, but rather shifts the value from the subject of the narrativeto the framework of the narrative itself. Ryans point is neatly summed up by Professor of Romance
Languages at the university of Pennsylvania, Gerald Prince, in his article: Remarks on Narratology.
He discerns Ryans key conclusion to be that narrative texts create a world by depicting particular
entities and events and they provide that world with coherence and intelligibility (Prince,
1996:99). Self-reflexive narrative serves to allow the mind to assign its own values to an otherwise
valueless world. Ryan expands her argument, stripping the real of any authority, writing that the
actual world is simply the world we inhabit, and the term "actual" is indexical, as are the
expressions "I," "you," "here," and "now." every possible world is the actual one from the point
of view of its inhabitants (Ryan, 1991:554). Narratives are no longer external, grand, intimidating
manipulations of knowledge but rather an empowering, internal tool.
Once equipped with this tool, does it grant the ego complete emancipation from external
influence? Not entirely, rather it provides a frame through which to wittingly interpret other
narratives. Bamberg puts this in context, highlighting both the importance of the self-narrative and
its reliance on externally provided experience.
Engaging in any activity requires acts of self-identification by relying on
repertoires that identify and contextualize speakers/writers along varying socio-cultural
categories, often compared to mental or linguistic representations (Schemata) that are less
fixed depending on context and function (Bamberg, 2012).
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The two important conclusions to draw here are that: firstly, to engage that is to interact
with something on equal terms, as opposed to being subjectified by it requires an internal
narrative. Secondly however, this narrative is based on accumulated experience gathered from
previous social and cultural engagements and the conclusions drawn from them. Schemata refers
to the codification of these experiences into narratemes, units that make up a narrative, that
contribute to self-identification. Does this reliance of the identity on external socio-cultural
inputs weaken the self-narrative?
If narrative is to be considered a window which allows the viewer to interpret the world,
then we are to believe that identity precedes narrative allowing us to perceive the weaknesses and
flaws within the framework and avoid distortion. Narrative, as merely an implement, enables a
conscious perception of time and thus contributes to creating and stabilizing a centralepistemological category as a basis of human experience (this is the 'experiential function' of
narrative) (Werner, 2003:184). By this Werner means that narrative is a method by which we are
able to stabilise our position in the world through it we establish epistemological knowledge in
the form of experience, as perceived through our narrative voice. The view proposes narrative as a
construct of the identity.
However, based on the conclusions drawn in chapter two, it would seem impossible to see
the relationship between identity and narrative as entirely one directional. Currie sees narrative as
crucial to constructing the identity, something agreed upon byIdentity and Storys editors. They
write, We use the term narrative identity to refer to the stories people construct and tell about
themselves to define who they are for themselves and for others (McAdams, Josselson, and
Lieblich, 2006:4). Does narrative then precede identity? Do we then not project narratives onto the
world so that our consciousness can interpret the actual - rather we establish ourselves within the
actual by creating an identity out of experiential narrative.
It would seem that identity is formed out of the consciousness doing both creating a
network of experiential narrative and what could be termed explanatory narrative. Werner expands
upon this concept further, declaring that Narrative does not only relate perceptions to each other.
It also, by making them appear as the result of a certain past and/or the starting point of a
particular future, provides possibilities of explaining them. Explanatory narrative is based upon
knowledge discerned by experiential narrative which is in turn informed by explanatory narrative,
continuing ad infinitum. Werner proposes that this function fulfils two purposes key to the forming
of human identity; firstly, the desire to connect a given state of affairs to an explanatory past, and
secondly, the desire, fear or curiosity to see the end or outcome of certain states, decisions, events
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etc. in the future. By providing the identity with telicity, Werner draws an interesting conclusion;
that these collections and predictions can then be reused as models or 'master-narratives for
giving meaning to similar cases, for accounting for the past, or for projecting possible futures
(Werner, 2003:185). The identity manifest as its own meta-narrative, informing its future actions
based up its self-reflexive interpretation of its past providing purpose and direction.
Identity can then be seen as a unifying construct; the result of years of extrapolating
narrative to perceive past, present and future a human becomes the writer of their own story.
Bamberg breaks this position down as thus: a teller accounts for how s/he (a) has emerged (as
character) over time, (b) as different from others (but same), and simultaneously (c) how s/he views
her-/himself as a (responsible) agent. Managing these three dilemmas in concert is taken to
establish what is essential to identity (Bamberg, 2012). The self clearly splits into differentelements, all of which a teller creates their own narrative of giving themselves a situational
awareness within existence, a life story. Life stories, therefore, may be seen as bringing different
aspects of the self together into a unifying and purpose-giving whole (McAdams, Josselson, and
Lieblich, 2006:5).
Bamberg writes that the narrators quest for identity or sense of self is motivated
primarily by the question Who am I? Similar to Werner, Bamberg supports the view that self-
narrating is inherent to human existence our ability to reflect upon our own purpose. He
continues, stating that the goal is rather to condense and unite, to resolve ambiguity, and to deliver
answers that lay further inquiry into past and identity to rest (Bamberg, 2012). Uncertainty is the
villain that human nature instructionally tries to iron out that identity strives to erase to establish a
firmer sense of self.
However, did we not in agree chapter one that the victory of contemporary narratological
thinking was to expose fallibility of grand narratives? That since we know that any value attributed
to the real, by way of a unified teleological purpose, is to navely deny the subjectivity of that
truth to alternate interpretations. Nietzsche, writing on human ambition and purpose, discredited
the attempt to unify consciousness. He writes, the assumption of one single subject is perhaps
unnecessary; perhaps it is just as permissible to assume a multiplicity of subjects, whose interaction
and struggle is the basis of our thought and our consciousness in general? (Nietzsche. 1968:270).
In a mode of thought that was to become central to post-modern thinking, Nietzsche entirely strips
the unified truth of any meaning, instead finding value amongst the interplay of the identitys
constructive elements.
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The conclusion leaves behind a helpless schizophrenia, an awareness of life as a linear
trajectory narrative, but also aware that any meaning given to it is as valueless as the next construct
that any narrative can be deconstructed to inconsequential elements made significant only through
the merit given to them via the consciousness observation of their relationships. Nietzsche
expresses a frustration similar to Searles anger at deconstructions lack of solution:
One would have to know what being is, in order to decide whether this or that is
real (e.g., "the facts of consciousness"); in the same way, what certainty is, what knowledge
is, and the like. But since we do not know this, a critique of the faculty of knowledge is
senseless: how should a tool be able to criticize itself when it can use only itself for the
critique? (Nietzsche. 1968:269)
It seems we are now left in a state of aporia, scared to commit to any meta-narrative for fear
of creating something insubstantial and contrived. This fear though is based upon one potential
flaw; as Raggatt points out; it presupposes a narrative that is linear, integrated, and coherent, with
all the facts about your life neatly tied together with a golden thread, a single narrative voice
(Raggatt, 2006:15). Does there then exist an alternative to this confusion?
Seeing identity as a purposeful narrative gives it a driving force guided by a truth that is
subjective and not based upon any universal truth since we believe no such thing exists. This is
the utopian mind set Scruton criticised, summarised here by Bakhtin as he analyses an identity
driven by an ideal: an idea becomes for him an idea-force, omnipotently defining and distorting
his consciousness and his life it is not he but the idea that lives (Bakhtin, 1984:22). Since the
value is placed upon the object, the components of the life story, the narratemes of conscious, are
second in value to the grand-narrative whose value is entirely false.
Raggatt understands this, arguing against the idea of the over-arching plot he intends that
we adopt quite the opposite, that the story you tell will probably be but one story from a number of
possibilities, and therefore the life story could never be encompassed by a monologue I argue
that the life story is really more like a conversation of narrators, or perhaps a war of historians in
your head (Raggatt, 2006:15-16). Once again value is assigned to the space in between
components, rather than the elements themselves meaning found in comparison rather than result.
Raggatt is approaching the conclusion that identity is not in itself a narrative, and perhaps not even
the descriptor for one single outcome or being but rather the output from the concert of a
multitude of narrating conscious.
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It is true then that narrative plays a key role in the formation of identity, that narratives are
inescapably teleological in nature and that it is teleology that most closely meets the human desire
mentioned earlier to see the outcome of certain situations (Werner, 2003:187), but that that
teleology is not taken as based upon logocentric truth since that truth will be manufactured
rather appreciated within the intertextual nature of the narratives. Meaning cannot be found in one
narrative and its purpose, since consciousness never gravitates toward itself but is always found in
intense relationship with another consciousness. Every experience, every thought is internally
dialogic, adorned with polemic, filled with struggle (Bakhtin, 1984:32). Bakhtins conclusion that
it is through the dialogue of narrative we derive value allows us to safely and wittingly utilise
narrative in forming and analysing identity whilst avoiding utopian naivety.
Narratology then can be seen to also be constructive, rather than simply deconstructingthings into meaninglessness. The post-structuralist viewpoint both exposes 'truth' as something
manufactured, yet allows an observer to find value in the necessarily fractured and abstract nature
of narrative without overall telicity. This chapter has delved into the interpretation by contemporary
scholars of identity as a singular and linear narrative, but an informed narratological study of said
narrative, with an understanding of the multiplicity of the conscious destroys any credibility of the
'grand-narrative' of identity since it then denies the potential of any dialogical thought, leading to
ignorance.
Reaching a point of self-diagnosed schizophrenia - a clamour of different narratives all
treated equally - and then choosing not to unite them under a unified narrative, allows for identity to
be formed. Through self-aware and self-reflexive inner-narration informed by external observation
and an understanding of one's own conscious allows identity to remain free of some false inner
'truth' derived from a manufactured interpretation of the 'real'.
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Conclusion
Post-Post-Structuralism
Has the post-modern identity crisis then been solved? Perhaps the question this essay asks is
whether there exists any crisis at all. What constructive narratological thinking posits is that the
response to a 'reality' revealed as fractured and devoid of any linear solution, is to place value upon
the fractured nature of consciousness. Since any teleological goal is a contrivance, yet the telic
nature of narrative is inescapable, identity is found in preserving the separation of inner-narratives
as opposed to attempting to unify them.
In exploring the history of narratology and its transition from a literary area of study to a
broad socio-cultural study of humanity, a precursor to our conclusion is foreshadowed. That it is inthe forgoing of definitive, singular conclusions and in the re-appropriation and the preservation of
the multiplicity of definition that value is found. In the opening chapter we established that
contemporary narratatology took the methodologies of a structuralist approach to literature and
evolved them in tandem with the development of deconstructivism and the post-modern revolution;
refocusing it as an anthropological study. Derrida and Baudrillard's complete dismissal of
metaphysic value in the 'real' leads to the 'virtual', meaning as defined by the interplay of created
systems. This view is challenged by Searle who argues that empirical truth does still exist and
should be pursued, while Currie states that there's no value to empirical 'truth' beyond that which
human perception applies to it. The far more interesting and valuable area of the study is the human
mind, not the so called 'truth'.
This then was the agenda of chapter two to establish a better understanding of exactly
what constitutes as the human mind, and why it is so vulnerable to manipulation and coercion. In
this chapter Currie argues that a post-structuralist narratological awareness of the identity allows
one to be aware of the influence and controllability of 'social power' through the managing of
information and knowledge. It is suggested that this awareness seeks to liberate the identity from
being institutionalised. However, in looking at the work of prominent British thinkers, Isaiah Berlin
and John Stuart Mill, it emerges that liberty is an as malleable concept as any that to make it the
object of the identity is to simply subscribe to another contrived falsehood. Narratology reveals all
such 'grand-narratives' to be comparable to acts of 'ventriloquy', vehicles for the editing of
knowledge but can it then not provide any solution? Roger Scruton's criticism is brought to bear
upon this dilemma, dismissing the development of apparently impotent post-modern ideas as 'junk
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thought'.
Whilst chapter two left this challenge unanswered, it did reach a conclusion important to our
realisation of the identity: that the formation of conscious narrative is cyclical. That is to say, that
consciousness posits narrative to better perceive the real, while simultaneously the consciousness is
formed as an understanding of the real as perceived through narrative. Consciousness and narrative
are inseparable.
The next task then of this dissertation was to explore the consequences of this conclusion.
Since while the narrative conscious is a frame through which to interpret the world, that frame is
informed by the consciousness' experiential narrative. Thus the vulnerability and susceptibility to
exterior and manipulative influence remains.
The key argument then proposed in chapter three, based upon the work of Marie-LaureRyan, is that identity emancipates us to choose the 'actual' that we wish to exist in based upon the
cumulative experiential and explanatory narratives informing that decision. The fact that the actual
becomes 'indexical' allows narrative to become to tool to take on the 'real'. Wolf Werner and
Michael Bamberg both write that a need to understand one's position in a teleological narrative is an
inherent need in the human psyche and that the forming of one's identity is to provide stability by
drawing together the multitude of self-narratives into one grand-narrative.
However, based on the examinations of the previous two chapters, grand-narratives have
already been discredited as misguiding. To create a grand-narrative out of the self is to create a goal
or conclusion that becomes a metaphysical truth making all other actions logocentric; centred
around an impossibility: that there is no 'truth'.
Building upon contributions from Friederich Nietzche and Peter Raggat, an alternative is
suggested. Identity is not a unification of narratives, rather it is the name given to the fractured
whole meaning resides in the spaces in between. Allowing identity to exist as dialogical in nature,
in constant flux and transition, allows for external and internal narratives to inform the mind's
conclusions. Information is found in the friction between ideas rather than the unification of them,
since to unify something is to author meaning where none exists whereas to look at the interplay
between two different concepts is to find an understanding and an appreciation of both.
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