Others, old and new: Revisiting otherness in Shakespeare and Rushdie

Abstract

The concept of otherness has become a cliché in the literature of post-colonial studies. But who falls into this category and how is it represented by two seemingly far-away writers like Shakespeare and Rushdie? The aim of this paper is to provide an introduction to the multifaceted aspects of the concept as represented by the two above-mentioned writers and their respective works The Merchant of Venice and Othello on the one hand and The Satanic Verses on the other with a main focus on the foreigner/immigrant.