Representations of the Other in Duiliu Zamfirescu’s Viaţa la ţară

Abstract

An impressive number of articles, (monographic) studies, edited volumes and doctoral
theses have already been written about the other/otherness/alterity, as concepts shared
not only by literary criticism but also by numerous social sciences. This approach
brings forward representations of the other as they appear in a Romanian novel also
translated into English which was famous ever since its publication, namely Duiliu
Zamfirescu’s Viaţa la ţară. The whole text was scoured with the purpose of identifying
the elements of alterity to create a corpus recording all the instances where heroes and
heroines discuss with or about the other, interrelate with the other or even misbehave in
relation to the other. The 34 excerpts were collected into a corpus which was further
submitted to analysis and revealing seven sets of such representations scattered
throughout the novel, but not all of them were discussed herein because of their
repetitive character. In general terms, irrespective of his/her identity, the other is
described directly or indirectly. In the case of the former category, the characters
pertaining to the category of the self give details about their friends or, maybe, the
narrator himself intervenes with details. In the case of the latter category, the other
presents himself/herself through personal deeds, opinions and more or less harmful
gestures. The attitudes of the self towards the other seem to depend on the other’s
ethnical group and they encompass a rather limited repertoire of opposite manifestations
which include both respect and disrespect, friendliness and distance, neutrality or even
an absolute lack of interest.