Strangers to Ourselves

"Strangers to Ourselves, Julia Kristeva's latest book to be translated into English, is concerned with the notion of the "stranger" - the foreigner, outsider, or alien - as well as the idea of "strangeness" within the self - a person's deep sense of being, as distinct from outside appearance and one's conscious idea of one's self. Kristeva examines estrangement from self, country, and mother tongue. Beginning with the personal and moving outward through the paradigm of literature and philosophy, she discusses the foreigner in Greek tragedy, in the Bible, and in the literature of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the twentieth century. Kristeva includes a discussion of the legal status of foreigners to gain perspective on our own civilization. Her insights into the problems of nationalism, particularly with regard to France, are timely and relevant for an increasingly integrated world. Strangers to Ourselves is the winner of the Prix Henri Hertz for 1989, given by the Chancellerie des Universités de Paris to the best book of the year by a faculty member." --