Literature and the Extra-temporal: Paul Ricoeur on Proust’s Novels of Time
Chavdar Dimitrov
Publication: Volume 1 Issue 4
Abstract
This paper aims at a better understanding of the role of literature in the philosophy of Paul Ricoeur. An overview of his narrative theory is a chance to concentrate on specifics in the methods of Marcel Proust and Thomas Mann. The inquiry focuses on the possibilities for exchange of perspectives on the subject-matter. The introduction is a delineation of the problematics of fictional temporality in narratological (Mark Currie) and phenomenological (Steven Crowell) terms. The research involves contributions from scholars in the fields of tropology (Harry Jansen), analyses of reading (Rhiannon Goldthorpe), and other disciplines (Jeanne Gagnebin, William Dowling). In general, the exposition follows the implications of clarification for a critical view on the theme. The resulting ‘route’ leads to details which are beyond the scope of the analyses of Ricoeur. On the one hand, the conclusion cannot encompass all consequences from the commentaries, on the other, a resume (Richard Rosengarten) hints at an ultimate articulation offered to the particular.
Keywords: semantics of action, prolepsis, temporality, memory, metaphorical identification, narrated time, phenomenology of reading, Paul Ricoeur.
Chavdar Dimitrov (ch.dimitrov74@abv.bg) holds a bachelor’s degree (2006) from the Department of History and Theory of Culture at the Faculty of Philosophy and a master’s degree (2008) in Nordistics from the Department of Scandinavian Studies within the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philologies, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, Bulgaria. His doctoral research (2017- ) is on the “Constitution of Meaning and Phenomenology of Culture.” The theme of his dissertation is “Narrative sense in cultural worlds – comparative analysis between phenomenology of action (David Carr) and hermeneutics of distanciation (Paul Ricoeur).”