Otherness as capital : The immigrant writer-category and otherness on the literary field.

The purpose of this study is to explore the concept of the immigrant-writer. By studying the literary criticism on four debutants, all of whom have been categorised as immigrant-writers, I have come to the conclusion that the critics tend to focus on the authors' otherness. By using postcolonial theory I've analysed the role as representatives of a supposed other reality that is imposed on these four authors by the literary critics. The theories of Pierre Bourdieu, especially his concepts of symbolic capital, literary field and position, have been used to contextualise these conclusions. Although the otherness that the critics accentuate seems to work as a negative symbolic capital in a bigger societal perspective, in the author's position within the literary field it grows their positive symbolic capital. Through their accentuation of the writers' otherness, the literary critics elevate the authors to a higher position within the literary hierarchy, and at the same time serve to increase their own influence in both the literary as well as in the power field. Even though the critics' accentuation of otherness leads to the authors' elevation in the literary field, this rise through ranks is clearly based on a racial view of the world. The positive capital is therefore based on the same premise as it would have been if the otherness had had a negative influence over the author's position within the literary field.Uppsatsnivå: