DISCURSIVE TREATMENT OF CULTURAL OTHERNESS IN THE LITERARY NARRATIVE (the material of the novel “die undankbare fremde” (2012) by I. Brezna)

• Main Author: Elizaveta Yu. Mikalauskayte
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kemerovo State University 2016-04-01
• Series: Вестник Кемеровского государственного университета
• Subjects: narrative and literary narrative communication; cultural otherness; discursive process; intercultural adaptation
• Online Access: https://vestnik.kemsu.ru/jour/article/view/1887
• ISSN: 2078-8975; 2078-8983

The paper investigates the methods of discourse treatment of cultural otherness stipulated to be the main function of literary and narrative communication, with respect to intercultural interaction. The study is based on I. Brezna’s masterpiece «Die undankbare Fremde» (2012) written in German. Several literary and narrative multicultural communication functions are identified in this text. Discourse representation of otherness is supposed to be the key function of the communication. That latter comprises a set of linguistic and cultural means for the representation of a reflex of adaptation process. The text exhibits this function at the lexical level through the implementation of a few semantic oppositions, pronoun deicsis and description of some specific topics. The syntax level manifests in peculiarities of the formal text pattern, as well as in chronology. The second function of a literature narrative is minimization of adaptation stress due to its interiorisation through the development of secondary concept linguistics universe. The third function is a transfer of mental experience of a real author or narrator to a reader. The fourth function is overcoming the stereotypization towards migrants’ culture among the native speakers of a language.