Resumen de The other through the mirror: The specular dynamic of fictional representation
If there is one image that can be said to describe the general critical understanding of selfhood and identity, it must be that of the mirror. The mirror has been used as a metaphor to explain the process by which humans begin to conceive of their selves as unique entities;
not only that, it has also come to represent the power dynamic inherent to the subject/ Other duality. Much in the same way, fiction is also described through the mirror in two ways: firstly to explain its function to reflect (or distort) reality, and secondly to explain the act of representation, by which subjects look for images—reflections—of themselves within fiction.
This paper, therefore, considers this specular dynamic in relation to its effect over the representation of marginal, or otherized, identities within fiction, focusing on the case of women (who are regarded as man’s Other) as a prominent example.
