National Stereotypes in Peter Mayle's 'A Year in Provence' (1989)

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Applied Geography, grade: 2,0, University of Passau, course: B(r)its from Abroad: British Accounts of Life on the Continent, language: English, abstract: Since every nation and its members have its own ideas about the world, about people and other cultures, stereotypes play an important role in intercultural communication. Thus,existing stereotypes about members of social groups or countries such as 'women are fragile' or 'Frenchmen are romantic' make it easily possible to conjure up a portrait of what certain cultures or groups are like (cf. Schaller; Stangor: 3). With stereotypical messages applying to all members of different cultures or social groups without regard for individual differences, communication between these members is often restrained. Due to living in multicultural societies, intercultural communication has become an important theme in a world of globalization and hence stereotypes have not become less important.In the first part of this paper the definition and basic characteristics of the term stereotype as well as the main features and effects of national stereotypes as a particular kind of stereotyping will be presented. Afterwards, in the second part, national stereotypes in literature will be outlined using the example of the travelogue A Year in Provence published by the British author Peter Mayle in 1989 focusing especially on its depiction and function. Finally, against the background of stereotyping playing an important role in intercultural and literary communication, the importance of appropriate and conscious dealing with stereotypes will be outlined.