Notions of the other in contemporary Bosnian women's short stories

Abstract

This study discusses stereotypes about the other in contemporary Bosnian women's narrative. The initial assumption was that stereotypical notions of the other inhabit world literature, and thus Bosnian literature, and thus influence our understanding of reality. The paper found it's object of research in deconstructing stereotypes about the other - gender, racial, sexual, national, through the interpretation of narrative texts by contemporary Bosnian authors: Fadila Nura Haver, Lamija Begagić, Adisa Bašić, Šejla Šehabović, Jasna Šamić. The characters of the selected narrative texts are women, strangers, children, who are treated as others/otherness both in reality and in the system of narrative representation. The analysis of their actions, socially and gender-imposed roles deconstructs stereotypical patterns of behavior, socially constructed roles and their psychological characteristics.