Strangers to Ourselves
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.53 (693 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0231071574 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 230 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2017-02-26 |
| Language | : | French |
DESCRIPTION:
She discusses the foreigner in Greek tragedy, in the Bible, and in the literature of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Enlightenment, and the twentieth century.. Kristeva begins with the personal and moves outward by examining world literature and philosophy
A difficult read BMH The most interesting sections of this work are the earliest chapters; Kristeva seems to run out of steam and stop abruptly once she begins to discuss foreignness and strangeness in contemporary culture. The writing is also very abstract (perhaps more so because it is a translation); this particular book is probably only interesting to a student of literature who is critically concerned with the figure of the Stranger in fiction and legends. I don't recommend picking this book up simply out of curiousity.. "A pivotal read" according to Beatrix the Potterer. I read this in the original French back in the early 90s. It seemed an odd little book, uncomfortably poetic and "arty" from my anglo perspective. But it changed my perception of how people, and groups of people, relate with each other; to the point that I think of it or mention it quite frequently. I should probably re-read it! I don't know if she covers the same material in any other of her books, but I found that this was a simple, focused read that was interesting and very worthwhile.
From Library Journal Kristeva, who teaches linguistics at the University of Paris and is also a practicing psychoanalyst, traces the concept of the "stranger" or "foreigner" in various cultures and periods from the Greeks to the present. Brody, U.S. . This--albeit highly selective--excursion through intellectual/political history is influenced by Freud's notion of the alienation, or "splitting off," of the self that comes about as the result of the repression of feelings and the ideational content attached to them.