Who will tell our story? Unconscious narrative and the myth of sovereign identity

Abstract

The article analyzes the relationship between narrative identity, unconscious memory structures, and cultural context. The main attention is paid to the division into ‘internal’ (autobiographical, based on personal experience) narratives and ‘external’ (cultural, historical, and social metanarratives) elements of identity construction. The paper uses the concept of ‘identity narrative’ — the unconscious basis of identity formed by non-declarative memory that precedes reflexive autobiographical narration. To explain the connection between narrative identity and the unconscious, the concept of ‘narrative unconscious’ is introduced. It is a non-reflexive way of perceiving things, their assessments, and interaction with them, what constitutes the unconscious cultural horizon of the individual; an unconscious, but perceived dimension of traditions. ‘Narrative unconscious’ is an aspect of identity that contains an unarticulated and unconscious connection between personal history and the cultural environment. Using examples from the works of M. Freeman, A. MacIntyre and C. Milosz, it is demonstrated how personal experience of interaction with collective narratives forms an often unconscious unity of the individual and the transpersonal. It is argued that the analysis of narrative identity should include not only questions about the ways of constructing an autobiographical narrative and its meanings, but also the question of distinguishing between the multiple sources that construct personal identity. This implies the creation of an expanded model of narrative identity, understood as a dynamic process in which the conscious construction of autobiography is associated with the use of implicit and unconscious culturally mediated elements of memory.