Divided Times; How Literature Teaches us to understand the other

“Divided Times, How literature teaches us to understand the ‘other’”, is the opening speech delivered in the second international literature festival of Odessa in the backdrop of the heated discussions regarding the ‘other’, especially about refugees, sexual minorities and the marginalized people. 

In this essay, Amanda Michalopoulou makes a contemporary re- reading of the classics of European Literature such as Hamlet, Odyssey, Don Quixote and The Sorrow of Young Werther.

They are modern because they are marginalized anti heroes. We recognize them in the light of their popularity ; Odysseus as shipwrecked sailor, Hamlet as a prince who sees ghosts, Don Quixote is a dreamer and Werther is  ruled by passion. 

They all are represented as a great heroes. But in modern reading, we can realize that they are marginalized anti- heroes. So here Amanda re_ read these heroes against the majoritarian perspective of media.

Nowadays Media turns to be a medium for dominant classes. In order to find out truth from falsehoods, the author here try to deconstruct classical literature and find out contemporary realities from it. 

In Homer's epic, Odysseus reached the land of Phaeacians naked and despair. Once a great king, Odysseus then becomes a refugee. So through Odysseus we can see how refugees are treated in new countries. He resembles the contemporary refugees who have been arriving on the shores of Greece. 

Hamlet also an anti-hero, who was also a victim of his society, especially from his mother, Gertrude and Uncle, Claudieus. 

Don Quixote is a madman to his Villagers. He is wandering in a armour in peacetime by assuming as an' ambassador of God on earth'

Goethe's Werther also overwhelmed by an unhealthy passion. 

When we reread all these characters from European literature show us they are the one who struggles for their existence. We have to empathise with them. We have to change our attitude towards refugees. Never accept the view propagated by Media. That is not the reality. "It tells us: Other is not what it seems".