Ways of Being in Literary and Other Cultural Spaces

The notion of “identity” is now recognised as absolutely central to both ontological and discursive practices. Drawing upon the concept from cultural anthropology, this volume explores how “ways of being” can range from embracing an ethnic position, be it American, Ukrainian or Romanian, performing masculinity or femininity, behaving as a child, to living in a city among various other modes of existence that are designated by this wide-ranging term for human diversity.

Beyond discourses of identity in socio-cultural space analysed in the first section of the book, the second half spotlights “ways of performing” identity in literature, such as the roles of enunciator and reader, the depiction of villainy and the acting out of rebellious victimhood, for example.

Integrating research from Great Britain, Bulgaria, Iraq, Japan, Romania, Spain and Ukraine, this collection of eighteen chapters will be of interest to all those involved in the comparative investigation of the complexity, richness and boundaries of “identity” in cultural and literary space