The Dialectics of Subjectivity. Narrative Identity in Paul Ricoeur's Theory and Psychoanalytic Conceptions of Narcissism

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to bear out the similarity between the model of subjectivity that emerges from Paul Ricoeur’s theory of narrative identity and the one implied in some of the  psychoanalytic  conceptions of narcissism. Presented are Ricoeur’s views  on a dialectic relation between the narrative forming an individual’s identity and lived reality. In Ricoeur’s theory stories  are entangled in pre-narrative life yet at the same time they do transform  it  by imbuing  it with  a meaning. The narrative so perceived turns into a defence mechanism pro-tecting singularity against  overwhelming  reality,  which  development draws it  to the psychoanalytical  notion  of narcissism. Selected  conceptions of narcissism  (Freud,  Klein,  Winnicott) are reviewed to indicate that narcissism, similarly as the narrative,  is based on a dialectical relation between reflection and transformation, dependence and autonomy, incoherence and coherence. Presented are also Julia Kristeva’s views attributing an inherently narrative character to narcissism.