Narrative and History: Preliminary Encounters

Abstract

This study explores the dialectical relationship between narrative and history in Paul Ricoeur's philosophy by examining the hermeneutic foundations through which human time is understood and narratively configured. It argues that although history and fiction differ in their referential status, they converge in shaping temporal experience through narrative emplotment, making narrative a mediator between lived time and cosmic time. The paper further discusses Ricoeur's concept of refiguration, which allows history and fiction to intersect while preserving the distinctive nature of each discourse. It also highlights the role of reading and interpretation in the construction of historical meaning. Particular attention is given to the concept of narrative identity, according to which both individual and collective identities are constituted through the stories people tell about themselves and their past. The study concludes that narrative is not merely a literary form but an epistemological and ontological structure that contributes to historical consciousness, the production of meaning, and the interpretation of human experience across time.