ABSTRACT
This chapter turns to the constitution of identity—practical and categorial, the identity of self and that of self-object. Though identity is, ultimately, personal—different for each individual—it is formed socially, both in large social practices and in more intimate interactions. The chapter begins with Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Slavery involves a systematic distortion of personal identity, both that of the slave and that of the master. Douglass depicts the broad social practices, and their more intimate manifestations, that so often deform identity. At the same time, he presents us with a remarkable case of successfully overcoming such deformation. The second half of the chapter considers Milan Kundera’s novel, Identity. This novel also treats the social constitution of identity—or, rather, the dialectical interactions that guide the development of identity. To some extent, Kundera examines socially coercive aspects of those dialectical interactions. But, at the same time, Kundera’s novel opens up to other issues, such as self-presentation and the corrective value of social dialectic (where interaction with others serves to challenge one’s misunderstandings of oneself).
