ABSTRACT
Narrative identity construed as storytelling entails identity as the public presentation of the self. The fundamental question entailed by this characterization of identity is how to represent one's own or another's public self-life or behaviour. To talk of narrative identity entails attention to how the story is told, the mode of construction, structures and techniques, why the story is being told, and whether it is convincing. This chapter suggests that narrative construction can be studied by attention to narratives, and particularly focuses on a narrative fiction E. L. Doctorow's The Book of Daniel. The process of construction is foregrounded throughout the novel at two levels: the fictional process whereby the character, Daniel, puts together the story of his life and the authorial process whereby the writer, Doctorow, utilizes narrative structure and technique for fictional characterization of the process.
