The hemmed world and the bordered world

Authors

  • Bertrand Westphal Université de Limoges

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7203/HYBRIDA.9.29496

Keywords:

boundary, edge, otherness, transition, liminal space

Abstract

 The article explores the notion of bordering as a metaphor for transitions in philosophical thought and linguistic and literary expression. It challenges the binary view of a boundary as either completely closed or open, proposing a more nuanced model represented by a half-open door. Through a multilingual analysis of various concepts and references to literary works and authors (such as Charles Baudelaire, María Zambrano, or Michel Tournier), the article demonstrates that liminal or interstitial zones are spaces of encounter and dialogue between the self and the other. These zones offer endless possibilities for exchange, transformation, and otherness, in contrast to the stagnation of closed borders. Therefore, the article advocates for rethinking borders as spaces of connection rather than division.

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Author Biography

Bertrand Westphal, Université de Limoges

Bertrand Westphal is Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Limoges and a senior member of the Institut Universitaire de France (Fundamental Chair of Geocriticism). He developed geocriticism, which is now one of the main theoretical approaches to representations of literary and artistic space. He is the author of several essays published by Éditions de Minuit, most of which have been translated into various languages: Atlas des égarements (2019), La Cage des méridiens. La littérature et l'art contemporain face à la globalisation (2016), Prix Paris-Liège 2017, Le Monde plausible. Lieu, espace, carte (2011); La Géocritique. Réel, fiction, espace (2007). In 2022 he published L'Infini culturel. Théorie littéraire et fragilité du divers (Brill). Bertrand Westphal is currently working on a geocritical reading of world literature and francophone literature. He is also interested in the possible intersections between geocriticism and ecocriticism. He is also a specialist in street art, a practice at the crossroads of (generally urban) spaces and aesthetics.

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Published

2024-12-30

How to Cite

Westphal, B. (2024). The hemmed world and the bordered world. HYBRIDA, (9), 13–26. https://doi.org/10.7203/HYBRIDA.9.29496
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Issue

No. 9 (2024): LISIÈRE/S

Section

LISIÈRE/S

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Bertrand Westphal

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