Self-Creation, Community, and Autonomy: theLiberation of Richard Rorty\u27S Philosophy of Self As Imagined by Absalom, Absalom!

My work explores the intricacies of Richard Rorty\u27s theory of the self as it arises out his philosophy of language and then puts that theory into dialogue with the subject as imagined William Faulkner\u27s Absalom, Absalom!. More specifically, after giving a detailed account of Rorty\u27s theory of the self, I will illuminate shortcomings in his conception of the relationship between the self and community by engaging with the work of John Brenkman. I will then complicate both Rorty\u27s theory, and my Brenkmanian critique of Rorty through a reading of Absalom, Absalom!. My reading seeks to illuminate the imaginative intricacies of the relationship I propose between the subject and community. Lastly, I move to show how this imagined relationship carves out a space for the role genuine agency plays in self creation in ways not accounted for in either Brenkman\u27s or Rorty\u27s work