Living autobiographically: how we create identity in narrative

Preface

Acknowledgments

1. Talking about Ourselves: The Rules of the Game

Jolting Events

The Case against Narrative Identity

Truth or Consequences on Oprah

The Narrative Identity System

Narrative Rules, Identity Rules

"My Father's Brain"

2. Autobiographical Consciousness: Body, Brain, Self, and Narrative

Antonio Damasio and the "Movie-in-the-Brain"

Doing Consciousness

3. Identity Work: People Making Stories

Looking at Vermeer: "Inner" Lives and "Outer" Forces

Everyday Lives

"'My Father ...'"

The Pressure of Circumstances, the Power of Story

4. Living Autobiographically

The Homeostatic Machine

"Arbitrage": Andre Aciman and "Remembering Remembering"

Works Cited

Index