Bestia jako figura obcego
A Beast as a Figure of the Other

Summary/Abstract: The article describes the figures of a beast appearing in selected literary works against the background of the historical eras in which they were created. This makes it possible to analyse the symbolic layer of cultural topoi and thus identify the figure of the other depicted in such a monstrous manner that he becomes an inhumane phantom. Indicating the link between social reality and the fiction of the works of culture it creates makes it possible to explore the mechanisms of exclusion – which are guided by fear of the unknown, on the one hand, and allow self-identification and gaining collective identity through opposition to what is monstrous, on the other hand.

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