Narrative and the Psychology of Character

2009/02/01 by GREGORY CURRIE, Gregory Currie · 18 citations
Arts and Humanities · Mathematics · Psychology · #Aesthetics #Art #Character (mathematics) #Humor Studies and Applications #Language, Metaphor, and Cognition #Literature #Mathematics #Narrative #Narrative Theory and Analysis #Narrative criticism #Narrative inquiry #Narrative psychology #Psychoanalysis #Psychology

paper · doi:10.1111/j.1540-6245.2008.01335.x

published in Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 67(1), 61-71 (Oxford University Press)

openalex publication_date 2009/02/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

Homer's stories are populated with gods, heroes, Sirens, Cyclopes, and other things we do not believe in. Still, we find diversion and instruction in them; it would be eccentric to reject them on account of the falsity of their theology. Might great swathes of highly valued narrative in drama, the novel, and other forms be comparably mistaken, this time about the notion of a person's character? If they are, is this more troubling than Homer's spurious supernatural? I give an argument that defends the role of character in narrative as some-

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