Title of the article:

PHENOMENON OF IDENTITY: CULTUROLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE WORKS BY P. RICOEUR AND M. KUNDERA

Author(s):

Oksana A. Zapeka, Lyudmila V. Phenomenova

Information about the author/authors

Oksana A. Zapeka — PhD in Philosophy, Head of the Department of Slavic Studies and Cultural Studies, Institute of Slavic Culture, A. N. Kosygin Russian State University (Technologies. Design. Art), Khibinsky pr. 6, 129227 Moscow, Russia.

E-mail: zana5@yandex.ru

Lyudmila V. Phenomenova — Lead librarian of the Center of interdisciplinary studies of the Library for foreign literature, Nikoloyamskaya 1, 109240, Moscow, Russia, graduate student of the Higher School of economics, Pokrovsky blvd, 11, 109028, Moscow Russia.

E-mail: fenomenoval@gmail.com

Section

Theory and history of culture

Year

2023

Volume

Vol. 70

Pages

pp. 153–161

Received

April 10, 2023

Approved after reviewing

May 20, 2023

Date of publication

December 25, 2023

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37816/2073-9567-2023-70-153-161

Index UDK

130.2

Index BBK

71.07

Abstract

Comprehensive study of identity makes observable the very person of researcher and thus switches us from the question ’what?’ onto ‘who?’. Social practices and cultural values find reflection in literature, which serves a perfect source for studying various issues of culture, including the phenomenon of identity.
Cultural and philosophical reasonings and ideas of Kundera provide a valuable insight into understanding of multi-faceted nature of identity. Ricoeur, who created the theory of narrative identity, establishes addressing to the literature in terms of the study of human selfhood. Both Kundera and Ricoeur were acutely sensitive towards the issues of modern culture and tried, each in his own way, to solve them — Ricoeur through philosophy, Kundera — by means of the novel, both noting the importance of the fiction in the study of identity. The writer believes that European art and, first and foremost, the novel was instrumental in shaping of man as personality, promoted readers` interest towards the others around and to different views of the world. The notion of narrative identity is, for sure, applicable not only towards the fiction but the culture as a whole, which is woven out of the stories being told and transferred across generations.
The works of Ricoeur, on the one hand, act as an important theoretical basis for studying the issue of identity in the work of Kundera and on the other, Kundera`s reflections about the phenomenon of the novel, its structure, functions and poetics may serve a worthy addition and perfect illustration of of Ricoeur`s idea of narrative identity.

Keywords

Identity, Kundera, Ricoeur, Novel, Essays, Narrative identity, Personality, Self, Cultural values.

References

1 Vdovina, I. S. “Kniga P. Rikera “‛ Ia-sam kak drugoi’.” [“The Book of P.Ricoeur “Oneself as Another.”]. Riker, P. Ia-sam kak drugoi [Ricoeur P. ‘Oneself as Another’.]. Moscow, Izdatel'stvo gumanitarnoi literatury Publ., 2008. 416 p. (In Russ.)

2 Vdovina, I. S. “Riker.” Novaia filosofskaia entsiklopediia. V 4 t. [Vdovina, I. S. “Ricoeur” New philosophical Encyclopedia]. Available at: https://iphlib.ru/library/collection/newphilenc/document/HASH593ca14cb1cc4a7497d259 (Accessed 1 December 2022). (In Russ.)

3 Zapeka, O. A., Fenomenova, L. V. “Problema identichnosti v rabotakh Milana Kundery” [“The issue of identity in the works of Milan Kundera.”]. Voprosy kul'turologii: sbornik nauchnykh trudov [Issues of Culturology: Collection of Academical Papers], vol. 5 (XV). Moscow, A. N. Kosygin Moscow State Textile University, 2022. 79 p. (In Russ.)

4 Starovoitov, V. V. “Problema ia, lichnosti, samosti v tvorchestve Polia Rikera i v sovremennykh psikhologicheskikh i psikhoanaliticheskikh issledovaniiakh” [“Issue of Me, Personality, Self in the Works of Paul Ricoeur and Modern Psychological and Psychoanalytical Studies.”]. Istoriia filosofii, no. 17, 2012. Available at: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/problema-ya-lichnosti-samosti-v-tvorchestve-polyarikyora-i-v-sovremennyh-psihologicheskih-i-psihoanaliticheskih-issledovaniyah (Accessed 1 December 2022). (In Russ.)

PDF-file

Download