Huis clos et altérité chez Amélie Nothomb.

Abstract

The literary discourse of AmelieNothomb is a singular speech in what concerns the question of identity. Her creation offers to us an exceptional ground to study the influence of alterity concept (otherness) in that it is articulated on two different but very complementary levels: on the metaphysical level and on the formal or intercultural one. First, it is the question of identity of Self conceived as an aggregate of desires which form being and allow him/her to manifest and discover him/herself by facing the Other who represents the world’s alterity (otherness) which surrounds, stimulates, and somehow, contributes to self-awareness and the discovery of identity. Then, it is a question of a quest for Self in the intercultural and the linguistic problems which result from it and generate an identity denial of the most cruel. It is the questioning of the being’s rooting in the world around him/her, and the enhancement of his/her alterity.