Writing the Self: Diaries, Memoirs, and the History of the Self

by Peter Heehs

Overview

Named an Outstanding Academic Title of the Year for 2013 by Choice.

The self has a history. In the West, the idea of the soul entered Christianity with the Church Fathers, notably Augustine. During the Renaissance the idea of the individual attained preeminence, as in the works of Montaigne. In the 17th century, philosophers such as Descartes formulated notions of self-hood that did not require a divine foundation; in the next century, Hume grew skeptical of the self's very existence. Ideas of the self have changed markedly since the Romantic period and most scholars today regard it as at best a mental construct.

First-person genres such as diaries and memoirs have provided an outlet for self-expression. Protestant diaries replaced the Catholic confessional, but secular diaries such as Pepys's may reveal yet more about the self. After Richardson, novels competed with diaries and memoirs as vehicles of self-expression, though memoirs survived and continue to thrive, while the diary has found a new incarnation in the personal blog.

Writing the Self narrates the intertwined histories of the self and of self-expression through first-person literature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781441168023
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	02/14/2013
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Peter Heehs is an independent scholar based in India. He has written or edited nine books and published more than fifty articles. His publications include The Lives of Sri Aurobindo (Columbia University Press, 2008), Indian Religions: A Historical Reader of Spiritual Expression and Experience (New York University Press, 2002), Nationalism, Terrorism, Communalism (Oxford University Press, 1998, reprinted 2000, 2005, 2006) and The Bomb in Bengal: The Rise of Revolutionary Terrorism in India 1900-1910 (Oxford University Press, 1993). His books have been translated into Russian, Dutch, French and Japanese.

Table of Contents

1. The Self and History / 2. The Soul from Animism to Monotheism [prehistory to medieval period]/ 3. Exercising the Soul and Mind [14C-16C] /4. Self-Examination [late 16C-17C]/ 5. Reasons of the Mind and Heart [mid 17C-early 18C]/ 6. The Soul Dethroned [18C]/ 7. Rousseau and Romanticism [mid 18C-early 19C]/ 8. Revolution and Reaction [19C France] /9. Idealism and Irrationalism [19C Germany etc.]/ 10. The Individual and the Crowd [19C USA]/ 11. Doubting the Soul and Discovering of the Body [mid-late 19C]/ 12. Evolution and Affirmation [late 19C-early 20C]/ 13. The Search for Authenticity [mid 20C]/ 14. The Death of the Subject [late 20C]/ 15. The Self is Dead, Long Live the Self [1985-2010] / Bibliography / Index

Editorial Reviews

Peter Heehs's Writing the Self: Diaries, Memoirs, and the History of the Self aims to look at writing about the self in literature broadly conceived--and with significant temporal and geographical reach. Heehs is particularly effective in suggesting both Rousseau's influence on Kant and his differences from Kant.

Studies in English Literature

Heehs undertakes the challenging task of summarizing the history of the concepts of self and self-consciousness, as well as a history of self-expression as seen in first-person accounts...His thinking on the subtle distinctions in recent demarcations of a self should attract many readers.
CHOICE

Peter Heehs's Writing the Self: Diaries, Memoirs, and the History of the Self offers a concise yet thorough introduction to over 2000 years of textual explorations of the self: major works, writers, genres, and conceptual and theoretical questions ... The novelty of Heehs's book lies in the focus on autobiographical texts, and the skilful weaving of primary sources and larger theoretical shifts. Available as a slim paperback, Heehs's book is also more accessible than many of these other monographs. Heehs demonstrates broad knowledge of literary, religious, and philosophical history through examples ranging from canonical writers and philosophers to lesser-known figures such as the visionary Hildegard of Bingen, the Sufi Ruzbihan Baqli, and the psychologist and diarist Marion Milner. Heehs is an adept storyteller, presenting intertwined characters and plots that drive the story being told and make the book a pleasure to read.
Life Writing

What is the self? Do we exist? Aurobindo's biographer embarks on a highly ambitious history of ideas of the self, embracing Asian and Islamic attitudes, but focussing on Europe and America, all the way through to the World Wide Web. Drawing on diaries and memoirs, poetry and novels, Heehs conjures up vivid portraits of all the leading contributors to this debate. It becomes an intellectual history of modern times. Essential reading for all those planning their autobiographies.
Religious Studies Review

From the Publisher

Peter Heehs's Writing the Self: Diaries, Memoirs, and the History of the Self offers a concise yet thorough introduction to over 2000 years of textual explorations of the self: major works, writers, genres, and conceptual and theoretical questions … The novelty of Heehs's book lies in the focus on autobiographical texts, and the skilful weaving of primary sources and larger theoretical shifts. Available as a slim paperback, Heehs's book is also more accessible than many of these other monographs. Heehs demonstrates broad knowledge of literary, religious, and philosophical history through examples ranging from canonical writers and philosophers to lesser-known figures such as the visionary Hildegard of Bingen, the Sufi Ruzbihan Baqli, and the psychologist and diarist Marion Milner. Heehs is an adept storyteller, presenting intertwined characters and plots that drive the story being told and make the book a pleasure to read.

Life Writing - Kathryn Sederberg

Heehs undertakes the challenging task of summarizing the history of the concepts of self and self-consciousness, as well as a history of self-expression as seen in first-person accounts...His thinking on the subtle distinctions in recent demarcations of a self should attract many readers.

Frederick M. Smith