Time and Narrative, Volume 3 (Time \u0026 Narrative) by Paul Ricœur


Time and Narrative, Volume 3 (Time \u0026 Narrative)
Title : Time and Narrative, Volume 3 (Time \u0026 Narrative)
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 0226713369
ISBN-10 : 9780226713366
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 361
Publication : First published January 1, 1983

In the first two volumes of this work, Paul Ricoeur examined the relations between time and narrative in historical writing, fiction, and theories of literature. This final volume, a comprehensive reexamination and synthesis of the ideas developed in volumes 1 and 2, stands as Ricoeur's most complete and satisfying presentation of his own philosophy.

Ricoeur's aim here is to explicate as fully as possible the hypothesis that has governed his inquiry, namely, that the effort of thinking at work in every narrative configuration is completed in a refiguration of temporal experience. To this end, he sets himself the central task of determing how far a poetics of narrative can be said to resolve the "aporias"—the doubtful or problematic elements—of time. Chief among these aporias are the conflicts between the phenomenological sense of time (that experienced or lived by the individual) and the cosmological sense (that described by history and physics) on the one hand and the oneness or unitary nature of time on the other. In conclusion, Ricoeur reflects upon the inscrutability of time itself and attempts to discern the limits of his own examination of narrative discourse.

"As in his previous works, Ricoeur labors as an imcomparable mediator of often estranged philosophical approaches, always in a manner that compromises neither rigor nor creativity."—Mark Kline Taylor, Christian Century

"In the midst of two opposing contemporary options—either to flee into ever more precious readings . . . or to retreat into ever more safe readings . . . —Ricoeur's work offers an alternative option that is critical, wide-ranging, and conducive to new applications."—Mary Gerhart, Journal of Religion

Time and Narrative, Volume 3 (Time \u0026 Narrative) Reviews

  • Kyle

    The Ides of March have come, but not gone, and I have finally turned the last page of this book. Fascinating that so much could be said about the two titular topics, around the same time as Hawking's A Brief History was published, and yet there is no crossover between the two fields of temporal/narrative studies.

  • Milo

    Es el mejor de los tres volúmenes (III, I y II, en ese orden). A pesar de que Temps et récit sea considerada la obra cumbre de Ricoeur, escribe muy mal y eso hace que sea muy pesado leerle. Todo lo que dice no es interesante ni imprescindible siquiera, pero las partes importantes son muy importantes. La conclusión de este es lo mejor que hay en las más de mil páginas de los tres volúmenes en conjunto.

  • David M

    I highly recommend early Ricoeur. Alas, I found Time and Narrative impossibly dry at times. Erudition passing into dread pedantry...

  • Ariane Brosseau

    C'est triste à dire...mais j'ai rien compris.
    Il n'y aurait pas un Paul Ricoeur pour les nuls quelque part dans l'univers que je pourrais emprunter? :(

  • Humphrey

    Volume three has the clearest and biggest stakes; this was where the project finally clicked for me. Now, this isn't really what one wants to hear several hundred pages in. I'm almost tempted to say that one could just read this volume, especially since it recaps several of the major threads of the preceding volumes. The narrative function, which unifies fiction and history-writing, is at last revealed as that which bridges the fundamental gap between phenomenological time and cosmological time by distending the present across past and future in the space of initiative or promise.

  • Federico Julian

    Mucho más pesado que loa dos volúmenes previos, pero llega muy bien a la conclusión de la trilogía.