IN)STABILITY OF IDENTITY: REPRESENTATIONS OF SELF IN JANKO POLIĆ KAMOV’S SHORT STORY BRADA

Abstract

The paper focuses on Janko Polić Kamov´s short story The beard analysed from the standpoint of theory of stability as the basis of personal individuality. Starting from the definition of internal environment as a precursor to the self, the paper seeks to reveal an individual’s personality based on its relation to different (mostly external, material) representations of the self. In doing so, it examines the relationship between the material manifestations of personality that can become a temporary identity anchorage, and the internal environment, which acts as a moment of stability in the process of positioning in the world. Cognitive theory of bodily based individual perspective derived from empirical premises of personal identity is associated with personal character whose variability is caused by instabilities of material identity markers. Through this comparison, the paper tries to identify and describe the relationship between fixed and variable factors which is essential for the functioning of the process of personal identity.