ABSTRACT
As we have seen, two of the most important features of narrative are the way in which it has been instrumental in the storage of memory and the contribution to the formation of human identity, and the way in which it is thoroughly selective. Indeed, not only has narrative facilitated the selective identity of groups of people, it has, especially in its written form, provided some of the grounds for the individual identities of its characters and even those of its originators. A developed sense of character lends narrative a meaningful anchor; similarly, identifying an author of a text helps to introduce a “principle of thrift in the proliferation of meaning” (Foucault 1986: 118), a stabilizing of signs through individualization.
