Traversing the Imaginary: Richard Kearney and the Postmodern Challenge (Studies in Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy)

In recent years, Richard Kearney has emerged as a leading figure in the field of continental philosophy, widely recognized for his work in the areas of philosophical and religious hermeneutics, theory and practice of the imagination, and political thought. This much-anticipated - and long overdue - study is the first to reflect the full range and impact of Kearney's extensive contributions to contemporary philosophy. The book opens with Kearney's own prelude in which he traces his intellectual itinerary as it traverses the three imaginaries explored in the volume: the dialogical, the political, and the narrative. The interviews that follow the first section allow readers to listen in on conversations between Kearney and some of the most interesting and respected thinkers of our time - Noam Chomsky, Charles Taylor, Jacques Derrida, Paul Ricouer, and Martha Nussbaum - as they reveal new and unexpected aspects of their thought on stories and mourning, ethics and narrative, terror and religion, intellectuals and ideology. The next section, on the political imaginary, looks at Kearney's distinctive contribution to the political situation in Ireland and in Europe more generally; and in the last, on narrative, writers including David Wood, Terry Eagleton, and Mark Dooley focus on Kearney's novels as instances of narrative theory put into literary practice. Concluding with Kearney's postscript, an essay on Traversals and Epiphanies in Joyce and Proust, the volume comes full circle, encompassing the full extent of Richard Kearney's engagement and offerings as a philosopher, writer, and public intellectual Introduction: The Miracle Of Imagining / Peter Gratton And John Panteleimon Manoussakis -- Part 1. The Dialogical Imaginary. On Stories And Mourning / Paul Ricoeur -- Terror And Religion / Jacques Derrida -- On Social Imaginaries / Charles Taylor -- Ethics Of Narration / Martha Nussbaum -- Intellectuals And Ideology / Noam Chomsky -- Part 2. The Political Imaginary. Intellectual Adventures In The Isles: Kearney And The Ireland Peace Process / Dennis Dworkin -- Reimagining Ireland, Britain, And Europe / James M. Smith -- Traumatized Sovereignty / Anne O'byrne -- Imaginings, Narratives, And Otherness: On Diacritical Hermeneutics / John Rundell -- I Tell You No Lie: Truth Commissions And Narrative / Jerry Burke -- Part 3. The Narrative Imaginary. Double Trouble: Narrative Imagination As A Carnival Dragon / David Wood -- Heretic Adventures / Terry Eagleton -- Beyond Postmodernism: Reflections On Richard Kearney's Trilogy / Jeffrey A. Barash -- On The Role Of The Oneiric In Testimonial Narrative / Eileen Rizo-patron -- Truth, Ethics, And Narrative Imagination: Kearney And The Postmodern Challenge / Mark Dooley -- Afterword: Traversals And Epiphanies In Joyce And Proust / Richard Kearney. Edited By Peter Gratton And John Panteleimon Manoussakis ; Foreword By Richard Kearney. Includes Bibliographical References. Contents......Page 8 Foreword......Page 10 List of Abbreviations of Works by Richard Kearney......Page 16 Introduction: The Miracle of Imagining......Page 18 Part 1. The Dialogical Imaginary......Page 30 On Stories and Mourning......Page 32 Terror and Religion......Page 45 On Social Imaginaries......Page 56 Ethics of Narration......Page 75 Intellectuals and Ideology......Page 80 Part 2. The Political Imaginary......Page 86 Intellectual Adventures in the Isles: Kearney and the Ireland Peace Process......Page 88 Reimagining Ireland, Britain, and Europe......Page 104 Traumatized Sovereignty......Page 112 Imaginings, Narratives, and Otherness: On Diacritical Hermeneutics......Page 130 “I Tell You No Lie”: Truth Commissions and Narrative......Page 144 Part 3. The Narrative Imaginary......Page 156 Double Trouble: Narrative Imagination as a Carnival Dragon......Page 158 Heretic Adventures......Page 165 Beyond Postmodernism: Reflections on Richard Kearney’s Trilogy......Page 169 On the Role of the Oneiric in Testimonial Narrative......Page 179 Truth, Ethics, and Narrative Imagination: Kearney and the Postmodern Challenge......Page 192 Afterword......Page 208 Traversals and Epiphanies in Joyce and Proust......Page 210 Notes on Contributors......Page 236