Rewriting the Self: History, Memory, Narrative

by Mark Freeman

Originally published in 1993. This book explores the process by which individuals reconstruct the meaning and significance of past experience. Drawing on the lives of such notable figures as St Augustine, Helen Keller and Philip Roth as well as on the combined insights of psychology, philosophy and literary theory, the book sheds light on the intricacies and dilemmas of self-interpretation in particular and interpretive psychological enquiry more generally.

The author draws upon selected, mainly autobiographical, literary texts in order to examine concretely the process of rewriting the self. Among the issues addressed are the relationship of rewriting the self to the concept of development, the place of language in the construction of selfhood, the difference between living and telling about it, the problem of facts in life history narrative, the significance of the unconscious in interpreting the personal past, and the freedom of the narrative imagination.



Alpha Sigma Nu National Book Award winner in 1994

262 pages, Paperback

First published June 14, 1993

About the author

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Reviews

[Stephen Antczak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting analysis of several books as a way of supporting the thesis presented on "rewriting the self," or recasting our conception of our own past in the light of the present, and modifying our ideas about who we are, our identities. You don't have to have read the books he discusses, and even after reading this I don't want to read all of them, although this book did spark my interest in several (Augustine, Sartre, Keller, Roth -- in descending order of interest).

[Hannah Davey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was enthralling. Dr Freeman’s inquiry into the self through narrative is a much needed perspective. I couldn’t give it five stars only because I found it curious that he never mentioned Lacan, who’s theories seemed to be very compatible with the thesis. Many times I thought he was referencing Lacan to find out he was not.