Paul Ricoeur - Time and Narrative (Temps et récit) Volume 1 [1 eBook - MOBI] (Philosophy)

Time and Narrative builds on Paul Ricoeur's earlier analysis, in The Rule of metaphor, of semantic innovation at the level of the sentence. Ricoeur here examines the creation of meaning at the textual level, with narrative rather than metaphor as the ruling concern.

Ricoeur finds a "healthy circle" between time and narrative: time is humanized to the extent that it portrays temporal experience. Ricoeur proposes a theoretical model of this circle using Augustine's theory of time and Aristotle's theory of plot and, further, develops an original thesis of the mimetic function of narrative. He concludes with a comprehensive survey and critique of modern discussions of historical knowledge, understanding, and writing from Aron and Mandelbaum in the late 1930s to the work of the Annales school and that of Anglophone philosophers of history of the 1960s and 1970s.

"This work, in my view, puts the whole problem of narrative, not to mention philosophy of history, on a new and higher plane of discussion."—Hayden White, History and Theory

"Superb. . . . A fine point of entrance into the work of one of the eminent thinkers of the present intellectual age."—Joseph R. Gusfield, Contemporary Sociology

Series: Time & Narrative (Book 1)
Paperback: 281 pages
Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; Reprint edition (September 15, 1990)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0226713326
ISBN-13: 978-0226713328

Note: untouched retail MOBI/Kindle edition. I'd say this is easily one of the most important books I've read in the last decade. Difficult reading, but well worth the patience. Recommended. MsSVig