The problem of identity in Yiyun Li's novel “Kinder than solitude”: a narratological aspect

The issue of identity has repeatedly attracted the attention of philosophers (P. Ricœur) and psychologists (J. Bruner, D.P. McAdams, C. McLean, W. Dunlop). The article attempts to investigate the representations of this phenomenon in a literary text. The subject of the research is “Kinder than Solitude”, a novel by Yiyun Li, a contemporary American writer of Chinese descent. It has not yet come into the view of literary critics. In the novel, the fundamentally narrative nature of identity is postulated: the characters liken the life of a set of stories, where each person has a specific role. Such a “narrativization” of reality allows characters to simplify relationships with loved ones, to give meaning to their own existence. At the same time the artificiality of such constructions sooner or later reveals itself: the motifs of the game, self-deception, illusions come to the fore. Yiyun Li emphasizes the existential function of “auto-narratives.” They insure the character from a direct meeting with his own “ego,” and possibly absence of the latter. According to cognitive scientists, the “self” is a “mirage” formed by many autobiographical plots. The characters of the novel do not so categorically interpret the nature of the human self, but recognize the forced necessity of the stories, supporting (protecting) it (despite their obvious imperfection). The considerations expressed in the article can be useful in the study of other texts affecting the circle of philosophical and socio-psychological problems that were the starting point for this article.