Personal identity and literature / Patrick Colm Hogan.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Foreword: Shame -- Introduction: Know thyself -- Basic principles -- Kinds of self -- Becoming oneself: society and identity -- Understanding ourselves: on empathy -- Shame, guilt, and trauma -- Subjectivity and loneliness -- Afterword: a question of dignity.

"In Personal Identity and Literature, Patrick Hogan examines what makes an individual a particular, unique self. Hogan draws on cognitive and affective science as well as literary works--from Walt Whitman and Frederick Douglass to Dorothy Richardson, Alice Munro, and J. M. Coetzee. His scholarly analyses are also intertwined with more personal reflections, bearing for example on his mother's memory loss. The result is a work that examines a complex topic by drawing on a unique range of resources--from empirical psychology and philosophy to novels, films, and biographical experiences. The book provides a clear, systematic account of personal identity that is theoretically strong, but also unique and engaging." -- Provided by publisher.