The Significance of Identity

As identity is an essential matter to humankind, it has not only received much attention in literature, but has been the subject of numerous scholarly papers for centuries already as well. However, these theoretical approaches towards a concept of identity have been - and still are - subject to constant alterations and developments regarding the perception of identity and its construction, as well as its deconstruction, as every contributor adds a different, individual focus or position to the general concept. As all these often quite contradictory notions ultimately lead to the complex present-days understanding and high evaluation of identity, the first part of this book undertakes a survey of some of the milestone theoretical works on identity, ranging from traditional concepts such as Descartes' and Freud's to recent ones such as Aleida Assmann's. Based on this overview, the second part of the book analyses Julian Barnes' book The Sense of an Ending in regard to the vital role identity and its construction as well as its possible de- and reconstruction, play in a human's life.