Images of Otherness

Carles Cortés Orts

Accordingly, the vision of a collective identity will be re-examined in those chapters that analyse certain aesthetic trends in relation to various cultural forms. The first interpretation of alterity is thus introduced into what constitutes, or once constituted, the aesthetic manifestation of the other. Intercultural contact has led to aesthetic transformations that, in the case of literature, are more evident: alterity and literature establish a relationship that gives rise to the notion of the individual as an anonymous being who can be anyone else in their generality and specificity. These elements of analysis serve as the basis for the studies included in this monograph. The chapters, 15 in total, provide a practical analysis of how alterity has been reflected through literary and artistic manifestations in Mediterranean cultures over the last few centuries.

María Isabel Corbí Sáez, in the article “Absolute alterity in the French Enlightenment. Anne-Marie du Bocage and her Colombiade ou la foi portée au Nouveau Monde (1756) in dialogue with Fontenelle and Voltaire”, analyses absolute alterity through the poetic work of French writer Anne-Marie du Bocage. The article thus examines the other, its recognition and the relationships between civilized individuals and natives, noting that the author, who uses her writing as a means of concealment, is more in line with contemporary authors like Voltaire or Fontenelle. The second study, Estrella D. Correcher Juliá’s “The first stages of Concha Lagos’ life. An interpretation that considers the circumstances in Constancia de la Mora’s Doble esplendor. Similarities and differences”, compares the lives of two writers, Constancia de la Mora and Concha Lagos, and highlights similarities and differences between them.

In “Art, literature and music: The case of Pintura musicada. Antoni Miró (2018)”, Carles Cortés discusses the interaction between three arts—painting, literature and music—in an edition of paintings by artist Antoni Miró. The paintings were set to music, drawing inspiration from literary works. This constitutes a way of understanding alterity within the same culture, through the interplay between creative works from three artistic disciplines that, in a single artistic creation, become compatible with and complement one another. The fourth chapter is “Solitud, the other novel in search of an author”, where Miquel Cruz i Morente reflects on identity construction and the autobiographical elements that Catalan female writer Víctor Català (Caterina Albert) employed in her novel Solitud.

Ivan Gisbert López’s “The role of women in Joaquim Ruyra’s stories about the sea” addresses the role of the female protagonists of several stories with a seafaring setting written by Catalan author Joaquim Ruyra. The chapter revolves around Ruyra’s aesthetic recreations, which contain elements of Symbolism, the Decadent movement, Naturalism and Costumbrismo. Mònica Güell, author of the chapter “‘Because I know you, stranger, I can call you sister.’ Representations of alterity in La germana, l’estrangera, by Maria-Mercè Marçal”, reinterprets the poems referred to in the title from a stylistic perspective. The author analyses certain elements—namely words, images, figures of speech and poetic forms—in connection with alterity, seeking to explore identity construction through such themes as desire, lesbian love and motherhood. In “Borderlands, rural areas and emptied territories in Fran Ruvira’s Orson West (2012)”, Antoni Maestre Brotons takes a theoretical and critical approach to postcolonial studies with the aim of analysing borderlands and rural areas in the film Orson West. Directed by Fran Ruvira, it follows a film crew from Barcelona who are making a western in El Carxe county. This allows the researcher to delve into how identity is constructed, using the concepts of delimitation and border.

The last two chapters are Begoña Pozo-Sánchez’s “Liana Millu, Natalia Ginzburg and Marisa Madieri: Three models of excellent discourse in non-canonical narratives from twentieth-century Italian literature” and Dulcinea Tomás Cámara’s “Bad Bunny & Bakhtin: The tactical pluriverse of Latin trap”. Pozo-Sánchez focuses on the fiction works of Italian writers Liana Millu, Natalia Ginzburg and Marisa Madieri, who devoted part of their work to figure out the space of women in processes related to exodus, exile and memory. Finally, Dulcinea Tomás discusses the undeniable rise of Latin trap in mainstream music and the social and cultural impact of its role models, to reflect on identity construction and alterity in the current urban music scene. All in all, the chapters show how these new approaches can contribute to a better understanding of contemporary works of literature and art in Mediterranean cultures.