Strangers to Ourselves

by JuliaKristeva (Author), L.S.Roudiez (Translator)

• Used

  Hardcover
  1991

  $63.28

  This is a study of the stranger, both as a deep personal sense of self as distinct from that being known to outsiders, and as the foreigner, an alien in a different country or society not his or her own. The work covers the fields of literature and philosophy - from Greek tragedy and the Bible, through the literature of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance (Dante, Machiavelli, Rabelais, Thomas More and Montaigne), the Enlightenment (Montesquieu, Diderot and Paine) to the 20th century in the form of Camus and Nabakov. The author also discusses the legal status of foreigners throughout history and uses the history of their treatment to offer a perspective on our own civilization.

• New

  Paperback
  1994

  $43.69

  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.