| Sumario: | Michel Foucault's influence on Stephen Greenblatt is a subject that has apparently gone out of date. Paul Stevens argues that Greenblatt's attempt to fashion the self through narration is influenced by Sartrcan existentialism. An examination of Greenblatt's work, however, will demonstrate that it is the Foucauldian notion of sel I-constitution of the subject that has provided the conceptual framework. Moreover, Greenblatt's conception of history is quite different from Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialist history. In comparison with Sartre, Greenblatt puts more emphasis on impersonal forces and remains deeply sceptical of the Sartrean notion of absolute freedom in our actions. The fear of the loss of identity, as a malaise of modernity, has led to Greenblatt's impulse to fashion his identity through narration and can only be addressed by a materialistic account of the origin of the human subject.
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