Роль Чужого в формировании границ идентичности в Средние века

Abstract

This article is devoted to the problem of the Other as a factor in the formation of the boundaries of identity in the Middle Ages. Exploring this problem through the prism of the analysis of literary and artistic works of the epoch, the author of the article examined the concept of otherness in two planes: imaginary and real. Having identified the main imaginary concept of the Alien, manifested in the image of the Monster, the author concluded that the latter is the quintessence of otherness, and determined the boundary of the Middle Ages man in the binary model of the Universe (good/evil, divine/impious). This identity, according to the author, was manifested in the constant attempt to typologize monsters through nomination, thereby identifying the monster as recognizable, and therefore less dangerous. The real Other in the Middle Ages was embodied in the image of the Muslims (Saracen). The author notes that this image was also monstrous in the minds of a medieval European citizen. At the same time, the author claims that the real Other was stigmatized by the markers of the monstrosity that transferred him from the category of reality to the imaginary plane. Summarizing her research, the author comes to the conclusion that in both cases of the meeting of a Medieval person with the Other, the latter plays an important role in shaping the boundaries of the identity of the first through a number of important processes: nomination, endowing with certain markers of otherness and defining the Other through the category of unnatural, antagonistic to the human beings.