Narrative, Perspective and Cultural Otherness*

Abstract

The article endeavours to link two existing fields of research, namely that of narratology and that of comparative "imagogy" which is primarily concerned with experiencing the foreign. It deliberates on how the narrative perspective as a characteristic element of the text is interrelated with and interdependent on the projection of the foreign which may be ambivalently interpreted as being either hostile or congenial. Special attention is devoted to the particular function of the letter as a narratological technique for conveying that which is alien. In conclusion, the article touches on the narrators' point of view stemming from social, cultural or historical strangeness.

Opsomming
Die artikel trag om twee bestaande navorsingsterreine, naamlik die van die narratologie en die van die vergelykende imagogie wat gemoeid is met die ervaring van die uitheemse, met mekaar te versoen. Dit bepeins hoe die narratiewe perspektief as 'n onderskeidende eienskap van die teks interverhoudelik tot en interafhanklik van die ambivalente vertolking van die vreemde is, wat of as vyandig of as welwillend ervaar kan word. Die rol wat briewe, as 'n besondere narratiewe tegniek om die vreemde tuis te bring, speel, kry ook aandag. Ten slotte, verwys die artikel na die verteller se gesigshoek wat gekleur word deur die sosiale, kulturele of historiese ongewone.