Why 'the Other'?

Why 'the Other'?

I have chosen the focus on the concept of 'the Other' because it provides a useful general framework for discussing these modes of writing. The concept of 'the Other' has emerged, in recent years, to describe ways in which anything may be defined in terms of what it is not, what it is "other to". For example, one of the legacies of feminist criticism is that it has looked at the ways in which "woman" is, or has been defined as "other to" "Man" or "the Male". Similarly, in the work of the writer and critic Edward Said, (most particularly in his work on 'the East', Orientalism), we have a stimulating and revealing account of the way in which 'The East' (Asia or the Middle East) has, historically and culturally, been defined and constructed as "other to" Western experience and 'the West". In terms of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror the concept of "otherness' is particularly important, for two reasons:

(i)	because Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror are intentionally 'other' to realistic modes of writing, they are writing about 'other' worlds, 'other' experiences, 'other possibilities'.
(ii)	related to this, such modes of writing are more often than not concerned with exploring the nature of the 'other' (the monster, the alien, strange behaviour or actions) and, because of this, they are also exploring the normal and the ordinary, i.e., what 'the other' is 'other to'. Think of the following oppositions which are common in literature of the fantastic:
		normality/abnormality;
		sanity/insanity;
		consciousness/unconsciousness;
		ordinary/extraordinary;
		rational/irrational;
		good/evil;
		human/alien
		natural/unnatural
		natural/cultural
		self/other	etc.

Literature of the fantastic deals with, and explores, these oppositions and thereby helps to define them.

Provide some examples of how this concept can be applied to the subject matter of this module.

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