On Stories

by Kearney; Richard

• ISBN13: 9780415247979
• ISBN10: 0415247977
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-12-07
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Drawing on the work of James Joyce, the story of Sigmund Freud's patient Dora and the case of Oscar Schindler, Richard Kearney skillfully illuminates how stories are deep at work in fictional writing, autobiography and psychoanalysis and above all, in attempts to talk of the "self." He also considers the stories of nations and how these 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 asAliensandMen in Blackreveal often disturbing narratives at work in projections of North American national identity.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Part One Where do Stories Come From?	1	(14)
Where do Stories Come From?	3	(12)
Part Two Three Case Histories: Daedalus, Dora, Schindler	15	(62)
From History to Story: The Case of Stephen Daedalus	17	(14)
Whose Story is it Anyway? The Case of Dora	31	(16)
Testifying to History: The Case of Schindler	47	(14)
The Paradox of Testimony	61	(16)
Part Three National Narratives: Rome, Britain, America	77	(46)
Introduction	79	(5)
Roman Foundation Myths: Aeneas and Romulus	84	(7)
Britain and Ireland: A Tale of Siamese Twins	91	(11)
America and its `Others': Frontier Stories	102	(16)
Conclusion: Border Crossings	118	(5)
Part Four Narrative Matters	123	(34)
Narrative Matters	125	(32)
Notes	157	(34)
Index	191