On Stories

ISBN-13: 9780415247979 / Angielski / Twarda / 2001 / 208 str.

Richard Kearney

Opis

Drawing on the work of James Joyce, the story of Sigmund Freud's Dora and the case of Oscar Schindler, this text illuminates how stories are deep at work in fictional writing, autobiography, psychoanalysis and above all, in attempts to talk of the self. The author also considers the stories of nations and how these may affect the way a national identity can emerge from stories. He looks at the stories of Romulus and Remus in the founding of Rome, the hidden agenda of stories in the antagonism between Britain and Ireland and how stories of alienation in film such as Aliens and Men in Black reveal often disturbing narratives at work in projections of North American national identity. Throughout, On Stories stresses that far from heralding the demise of the story, the digital and supposedly postmodern era opens up powerful new ways of thinking about narrative.

Recenzje

'Like the best philosophy, and the best intellectual history, this is serious stuff dealt with a light hand.' - Roy Foster, The Guardian

'[Richard Kearney's] argument that appreciating story is an essential part of being human is strong and true.' - The Guardian

'Like the best philosophy, and the best intellectual history, this is serious stuff dealt with a light hand.' - Roy Foster, The Guardian

'Kearney's chief virtue has always been pedagogical, as a gifted storyteller of ideas, and this work is no exception. The first and final parts are exemplary in this respect, providing a concise and morally robust defence of the importance of structured narratives for the way we make sense of our past, present and future ' - Michael Cronin, The Irish Times

'A paean to storytelling...The voice is clear, humane and level-headed. Kearney serves as an guide through this brief history of the ways stories have worked, for better or for worse, in our lives.' - Molly McLoskey, The Sunday Tribune

O autorze

Richard Kearney