Strangers to Ourselves / Edition 1

by Julia Kristeva, Leon Roudiez

Overview

This book is concerned with the notion of the "stranger" -the foreigner, outsider, or alien in a country and society not their own- as well as the notion of strangeness within the self -a person's deep sense of being, as distinct from outside appearance and their conscious idea of self.

Kristeva begins with the personal and moves outward by examining world literature and philosophy. She discusses the foreigner in Greek tragedy, in the Bible, and in the literature of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Enlightenment, and the twentieth century. She discusses the legal status of foreigners throughout history, gaining perspective on our own civilization. Her insights into the problems of nationality, particularly in France are more timely and relevant in an increasingly integrated and fractious world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231071574
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	06/10/1991
Series:	European Perspectives: A Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	230
Sales rank:	659,482
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Julia Kristeva is a leading French intellectual, practicing psychoanalyst, and Professor of Linguistics at the Universite de Paris VII. Columbia University Press has published other books by Kristeva in English: In the Beginning Was Love, Tales of Love, Revolution in Poetic Language, Powers of Horror, Desire in Language, Black Sun, Language: The Unknown, and The Kristeva Reader.

Table of Contents

1 Toccata and Fugue for the Foreigner
2 The Greeks Among Barbarians, Suppliants, and Metics
3 The Chosen People and the Choice of Foreignness
4 Paul and Augustine: The Therapeutics of Exile and Pilgrimage
5 By What Right are Are You a Foreigner?
6 The Renaissance, "So Shapeless and Diverse in Composition"
7 On Foreigners and the Enlightenment
8 Might Not Universality Be... Our Own Foreignness?
9 In Practice...
Index

Editorial Reviews

[The book] demonstrates her amazing command of history, politics, literature, linguistics, and psychology [and] argues powerfully for a radical examination of self, beginning with the realization that what is most fearful to us in the stranger may be the very quality we do not want to recognize in ourselves.

San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle

Kristeva, professor of linguistics and practicing psychoanalyst, investigates the history of foreigners in Europe, dealing with the notion of the country and society not his own--as well as the notion of Artheme Fayard) won the Prix Henri Hertz for 1989. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

[An] elegant account of the links between subjectivity and heteronomy.

Radical Philosophy

Kristeva’s most accessible book to date, of broad historical scope and deep personal passion. It is also a very wise book

Comparative Literature

[An] elegant account of the links between subjectivity and heteronomy.-- "Radical Philosophy"

Kristeva suggests that the antidote to xenophobia, racism and other weapons against outsiders is to recognize that "the foreigner is within us." [Strangers to Ourselves] demonstrates [Kristeva's] amazing command of history, politics, literature, linguistics, and psychology. . . . [and] argues powerfully for a radical examination of self, beginning with the realization that what is most fearful to us in the stranger may be the very quality we do not want to recognize in ourselves.-- "San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle"

Kristeva's most accessible book to date, of broad historical scope and deep personal passion. It is also a very wise book-- "Comparative Literature"

From the Publisher

Kristeva suggests that the antidote to xenophobia, racism and other weapons against outsiders is to recognize that "the foreigner is within us." [The book] demonstrates her amazing command of history, politics, literature, linguistics, and psychology...argues powerfully for a radical examination of self, beginning with the realization that what is most fearful to us in the stranger may be the very quality we do not want to recognize in ourselves. Only through this reconciliation with our estranged self, Kristeva asserts, can we begin to give fair treatment to others.

San Fransisco Examiner-Chronicle