The man, be of word

Paul Ricoeur distinguishes between sameness of character (idem identity) on the one side, and selfhood (ipse identity) —the being that keeps his or her promise, the maintien de soi, which finds its most accurate expression among the imaginary variations of literary fictions— on the other. This article analyzes some pieces of work that have not been considered by Ricoeur, such as Peter Handke’s Kaspar, in order to exemplify the loss of selfhood when it does not have a dialectic relation with a character. This case can also be seen in Musil’s Der Man ohne Eigenschaften. Finally, A Borges’ ‘dream’ will show how a promise is fulfilled even after (or with) death.