The Creation and Reception of the Other in Literary Discourse
The Creation and Reception of the Other in Literary Discourse

Summary/Abstract: The notions of the other and otherness are polysemantic and interdisciplinary, but in literary discourse they acquire certain distinctive features. The aim of the present paper is to discuss the polysemantic nature and specificity of the notions the other and the otherness in literary discourse and to investigate the process and the event (act) of creation and perception of the other and otherness in literature. In literary discourse otherness (alterity) is achieved by convergence of creativity, inventiveness, originality, singularity, newness and surprise in language forms and content inviting to the journey into the unknown, full of multiple meanings and ambiguities. The creation of otherness is based on dual encounters: the creator’s (writer’s) conscious and unconscious dialogue and relationship with the other, and in the dialogue between the other in the text and the reader. Both agents (the writer and the reader) experience mental and emotional shifts, displacements and transformations in their idioculture which in relation to the other are unique. In the process of creating the other, the writing itself takes up the domineering role and begins to write itself, spontaneously introducing new words and ideas and changing the writers intentions. The reader’s ethical reception of the other can be ensured only by responsible and competent reading.

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