Author(s): Jaouad Najeh / Language(s): French
Issue: 1/2023
In "Figures de l’étranger dans la littérature française," Khatibi delves into the significance of exoticism and the Exote concept, which he incorporates into his novels, essays, and various discussions. This article explores the intercultural aspect of Khatibi's examination of the link between writing and otherness via exoticism. It investigates how the depiction of the Other and its connection to interculturality is articulated by placing the Exote at the heart of an intercultural ethical framework. Cultural difference, viewed as a fundamental right of every individual that should never be compromised, necessitates acknowledging the cultural identity of the writer as an inherent entitlement. Opposing any reduction to mere folklore that overlooks the Other's full complexity, the unyielding and enigmatic nature of otherness ensures the depth of interaction and the joy found in encountering the Other. Without an ethical approach to exoticism, grounded in respect for diversity, a writer risks succumbing to the "tyranny" of personal bias and judgment. The ethic of exoticism aligns with allowing the Other the liberty to express their uniqueness. Khatibi innovatively reinterprets interculturality by endorsing alternate principles that reframe it through an intercultural and humanistic lens. While drawing on Victor Segalen’s works like the Immemorials and Equippée, Khatibi critically assesses this creative approach, even questioning some of Segalen's perspectives on the Other.: In Figures de l’étranger dans la littérature française, Khatibi reports on the relevance of exoticism and the figure of the Exote that he deploys in his novels and essays as well as in his various interventions. In this paper, we identify the intercultural dimension in Khatibi's approach to the relationship between writing and otherness through the notion of exoticism. We study the question of the writing of the Other and its relationship with interculturality by placing the Exote at the center of an intercultural ethics. An inalienable right that every individual possesses and of which he must not tolerate any negotiation, cultural difference implies the recognition of the cultural identity of the writer in his own right. Against any form of folklorism that would fail to perceive the Other in all its complexity, the irreducible, “intractable” and impenetrable character of otherness promises the richness of the exchange and the euphoria of the encounter with the Other. Apart from an ethic of exoticism, inscribed in respect for difference, the writer will fall into the "tyranny" of his subjectivity and his value judgments. The ethics of exoticism rhymes with the freedom of the Other in the expression of their Difference. In fact, the author reactivates, in his own way, the use of interculturality in that he attributes to it other principles that redefine it from a perspective that is both intercultural and humanist. If it is true that he leans on this exoticism from the study of some works of the French writer Victor Segalen such as the Immemorials and the Equippée that he highlights, Khatibi does not miss to take a critical look at this creative process, even going so far as to question some positions of the French writer vis-à-vis the Other.
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