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8 - The Power of Literature in Intercultural Communication

from Part II - Theoretical Approaches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2020

By
Birgit Neumann
Edited by
Guido Rings  and
Sebastian Rasinger
Guido Rings
Affiliation:
Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge
Sebastian Rasinger
Affiliation:
Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge
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Summary

Birgit Neumann’s chapter focuses on the specificities of literature, i.e., its distinct poetic and affective potential, to create and negotiate concepts of self and otherness, which underlie processes of intercultural communication. This includes close readings of identity constructs in Andrea Levy’s Small Island (2004) and Teju Cole’s Open City (2011), which illustrate how literary representations may promote, trouble or problematize intercultural communication.

Keywords

intercultural communicationliteratureothernessidentityfictional discourseaesthetics
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Intercultural Communication , pp. 136 - 154
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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