Richard Kearney skilfully illuminates how stories are deep at work in all
forms of writing, and discusses the power of the story in its ability to
determine our identities and the identity of the world around us.Drawing on the work of James Joyce, the story of Sigmund Freud's 'Dora' and
the case of Oscar Schindler, Richard Kearney skilfully illuminates how stories
are deep at work in fictional writing, autobiography and psychoanalysis and
above all, in attempts to talk of the "self". He also considers the stories of
nations and how these may affect the way a national identity can emerge from
stories. He looks at the stories of Romulus and Remus in the founding of Rome,
the hidden agenda of stories in the antagonism between Britain and Ireland and
how stories of alienation in film such as Aliens and Men in Black reveal often
disturbing narratives at work in projections of North American national
identity. Throughout On Stories stresses that far from heralding the demise of
the story, the digital and supposedly 'postmodern' era opens up powerful new
ways of thinking about narrative. Imaginative and wide-ranging, On Stories is
essential reading for anyone who wants to think clearly about the role of
stories in our future.
