Philosophy and Life Writing

D. L. LeMahieu, Christopher Cowley

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9780429663208
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Ethics & Moral Philosophy

In this volume, scholars from a number of academic disciplines illuminate how a range of philosophers and other thoughtful individuals addressed the complex issues surrounding philosophy and life writing.

The contributors interrogate the writings of Teresa of Avila, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Stuart Mill, Wilhelm Dilthey, Walter Benjamin, Albert Camus, Bryan Magee, Mikhail Bakhtin, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Judith Butler, who range in time from the sixteenth to the twenty-first centuries.

As this volume demonstrates, the relationship between philosophy and life writing has become an issue of urgent interdisciplinary concern.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Life Writing.

Self-management and Narrativity in Teresa of Avila’s Work

Noelia Bueno-Gómez

Abstract

In this article, I propose a philosophical interpretation of Teresa of Avila’s The Book of Her Life as a point of departure for a consideration of the relationship between subjectivity and narrativity. The Book of Her Life reveals a tension between self-affirmation and humility, between Teresa’s attachment to the world and the detachment from the world as required by the ascetic path she chose to undertake; between her strong sense of self and her drive to renounce her own will. The ways in which Teresa resolves such tensions reveal a particular conception of the self as something one can shape by using ascetic techniques like ascetic humility, by practising rhetorical humility intended to create a public reputation, by engaging in public self-affirmation meant to promote one’s way of life (exemplarity), and by transforming the renunciation of one’s will into an acceptance of God’s will, which results in a consolidation of Teresa’s charisma and self-confidence.

Introduction

The Book of Her Life (Libro de la vida) is the first work of the Carmelite reformer Teresa of Avila (*1515, Avila, Spain; 1582, Toledo, Spain).¹ Previously, in 1560, Teresa wrote a ‘Cuenta de conciencia’ (lit. account of conscience), wherein she describes her way of praying, her extraordinary mystic experiences – ‘arrobamientos’ (raptures) and visions – and confesses her sins, thus showing the ‘state of her soul’ to her confessor at the time, Pedro Ibáñez (De Jesús 2006, 21; Javierre 1982). It is known that Teresa wrote her autobiography at least three times at the request of her confessors or counsellors, and that her purpose was to show the state of her soul and to confess her sins.² However, her perseverance and the fact that she wrote the final version even under the threat of drawing the attention of the Inquisition make it obvious that writing this book was a personal wish. The Book of Her Life is not merely an autobiography or a confession, but a deep reflection of the circumstances surrounding Teresa’s life and deeds, the forces which influenced her, an account of her responsibilities, a description of her sufferings and her resources for managing them, a detailed reflection on her feelings and emotions as well as their influence on her actions and decisions, and even a particular form of self-affirmation. She frames the first 50 years of her life as a history of a religious search for perfection full of progress, setbacks and doubts, detailing her ascetic practices, work, as well as her social engagement (particularly with regard to her foundations of reformed monasteries).³ She combines this account of her life with a reflection upon it in the context of the search for perfection, and tries to find moral lessons the reader (particularly the nuns of her reformed monasteries) can glean from her life experiences. In other words, Teresa did not write her autobiography just for her confessors, given that she constantly provides advice to others by drawing on her own experience of trying to conduct herself in a certain moral, virtuous way.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Teresa used The Book of Her Life as a testimony of her religious life and her deeds, a kind of general confession which she gave to each new confessor whose advice she sought. The book was soon also distributed among the clergy, Teresa’s personal friends, and even members of the Spanish nobility, like the Duchess of Alba or the Princess of Eboli, whose maids ridiculed it. The Princess of Eboli denounced the book to the tribunals of the Inquisition in retaliation against Teresa, who had originally overseen the foundation of a reformed Carmelite convent in Pastrana under the protection of the princess, but had to transfer the nuns to another convent because the princess’ eccentricities were incompatible with the Carmelite way of life (De Jesús 2006, 32). After Teresa’s death, the book became well known in the Spanish religious and intellectual world, with the first edition by Luis de León being published in Salamanca in 1588.⁴ As a writer, Teresa has been compared to Cervantes, and is considered one of the best Spanish literature writers of all time.⁵ As a mystic, she became a key figure of Spanish and European mysticism, together with John of the Cross (1542–1591), who helped her to develop the reform of the Carmelite friars. As a Catholic, she achieved the highest acknowledgments; she was canonised in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV and named Doctor of the Church by Pope Paulus VI in 1970, making Teresa the first woman to attain this title, together with Catherine of Siena.

I propose a philosophical interpretation of The Book of Her Life as a point of departure for a consideration of the relationship between subjectivity and narrativity. The Book of Her Life reveals a tension between self-affirmation and humility, between Teresa’s attachment to the world and the detachment from the world as required by her chosen ascetic path, between her strong sense of self and her wish to renounce her own will.⁶ The ways in which she resolves these tensions show a particular relationship between subjectivity and narrativity, and reveal a particular conception of the self. To Teresa, her self is an object of daily hard work (in terms of self-reflection and self-improvement) and her subjectivity becomes an enlarged experimental space full of struggle and contradictions, subject to the influence of controllable and uncontrollable external and internal forces.⁷

In The Book of Her Life, Teresa tries to give an account of herself, that is, to acknowledge herself as the subject of her actions, and more specifically, to acknowledge herself as a moral subject (the subject of her moral actions). The debate on how exactly the subject relates to morality (the sets of norms) is ongoing, but it is clear that what is at stake here is not only the fact that moral norms require moral subjects, but the fact that the mere conception of a subject somehow entails morality in a double sense. For one, norms already exist when a new human being begins to think about him/herself. In this reflexivity, a new subject emerges, perhaps stimulated by the demands of a society which expects this subject to answer the question ‘Who are you?’ or to give an account of his/her actions. The morality and normative ideals intrinsic to the current systems of truth determine or condition the emergence of selves, as Foucault argues (1988, 1991). For another, the subject is a subject inasmuch as it is able to appropriate norms, to internalise them by assuming that they function as norms and occasionally by adopting a critical attitude towards them.⁸

A subject develops his/her self-conscience in the context of the broader panorama of norms, the demands of others, and public scrutiny. The norms ‘prepare a place within the ontological field for a subject’ (Butler 2005, 9) and the subject interacts, struggles and coexists with such norms, demands and questions. One’s own identity is partially the result of conditioning and partially the result of a personal effort to distinguish between the expectations of others and one’s own (i.e. those created under the influence of others’ expectations). Foucault considered the process of self-constitution to be a kind of self-making (poiesis). However, I prefer the expression ‘self-management’ because ‘self-making’ presupposes the creation of something with a clear goal in mind and a perceived end result, yet the formation of the self is not like that. ‘Self-management’ entails dealing with the reality one has discovered one was born into. It includes the idea that a person is expected to ‘do’ something with this reality every day in a social context, probably without a clear goal in mind and without an end result (human beings are always ‘moving,’ ‘on the road,’ and there is no definitive, crystallised version of the self, even after death, because it is impossible to create a definitive biography or picture about anybody. New unknown data about this person can always be revealed and a certain level of interpretation is unavoidable in a biography. Selves are not absolutely transparent, neither to themselves nor anybody else. Narrations, biographies and autobiographies cannot be but incomplete as there are aspects of the ‘narrated self’ that they simply cannot capture through their structure and language. Moreover, narrations do not simply chronicle the process of self-management, but contribute to it. This is especially the case with confessions, which have a clear performative effect. Teresa’s Book of Her Life is a good source for studying all these dimensions of the construction of identity and its relationship with norms. Teresa herself was unsure of her life goal in the beginning, and had the impression of being unable to make progress on her path to perfection. Nevertheless, her autobiography is a story of success,⁹ as Teresa recounts how she eventually manages, through her observance of the rules of Christian asceticism, to become worthy of God’s trust: In the end, he becomes her direct advisor, the ultimate proof that she has chosen the right path.

Writing and publishing an autobiography is always an exercise in self-affirmation. It entails, or requires, the idea ‘I am somebody,’ inasmuch as ‘somebody’ is the subject of an interesting story, a subject which has something interesting to tell. Teresa wanted to provide the world with an answer to the question, ‘Who are you?,’ even though, as a woman and a nun, the world would never even think to ask her.¹⁰ Her most relevant public actions were the foundations of the Discalced Carmelite monasteries. Her actions spoke for her, but telling her own story from her own point of view, which entails a strong self-consciousness, reinforced them. The story always follows the actions and can capture them only partially, but it has its own performative functions in the social realm. The autobiography contributes to the image of the self one tries to portray; it completes the character revealed by the actions. Given this, how can humility contribute to making an autobiography (that is, the revelation of a particular self) possible, especially in a context in which such a (feminine) self was not supposed to be revealed? In other words, how can humility be used for self-affirmation?

Giving an account of the self to the world. Self-affirmation vs humility

The Book of Her Life shows the complexity of giving an account of oneself, and the particular difficulties faced by a person who is not expected to be visible or to have an account worth sharing. Teresa was faced with societal pressures and marginalisation for being a woman, a descendant of converted Jews, and the fact that she belonged to a family of ‘hidalgos,’ low-ranking Spanish nobility, which was in decline at the time (Rodríguez-Guridi 2010); moreover, she witnessed the economic decline of her family as well (Javierre 1982). All these circumstances shaped her, but her status as a woman was certainly the greatest handicap for writing an autobiography that reveals a self with a rich interior life, intellectual and emotional capacities, and a public character. She uses the rhetoric of humility extensively in order to achieve the seemingly impossible: to reveal a self that society at the time did not expect a priori to be revealed.

Teresa not only had to contend with societal pressures, but also had to deal with the oppressive role which the religious authorities tried to impose on her, the model of a Christian religious woman and a Catholic nun. Since the Catholic clergy at the time felt threatened by the Protestant Reformation, they reacted by consolidating their power and strengthening their influence, which created an unfavourable climate for questioning the ecclesiastic authority or defending one’s own divine experiences. At the same time, the Catholic Church needed new public figures and figureheads in order to fortify its position. Teresa never defied the ecclesiastic authority openly, and considered the obedience she had sworn as a Catholic nun to be part of her spiri...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Citation Information
• Notes on Contributors
• Introduction: Philosophy and Life Writing
• 1 Self-management and Narrativity in Teresa of Avila’s Work
• 2 ‘S’éclairer en dedans’: Rousseau and the Autobiographical Construction of Truth
• 3 The Incubus of Necessity in Mill’s Autobiography
• 4 Wilhelm Dilthey’s Views on Autobiography
• 5 Walter Benjamin’s Berliner Kindheit um 1900: Longing, Enchantment and the Material Subject
• 6 ‘Forgive Me Reader, for I Have Sinned’: Disponibilité and Confession in the Works of Albert Camus
• 7 Life Writing and Philosophy: Bryan Magee and the Subjectivities of the Examined Life
• 8 Heterobiography: A Bakhtinian Perspective on Autobiographical Writing
• 9 Narrative and the Phenomenology of Personal Identity in Merleau-Ponty
• 10 Narrating Trauma: Judith Butler on Narrative Coherence and the Politics of Self-Narration
• Book Review: The Philosophy of Autobiography, edited by Christopher Cowley
• Index