O tym, czy outsider to na pewno tylko (od)cień Obcego, Innego i odmieńca

In literary research, the term ‘outsider’ seems almost absent. It appears slightly more often as a more general notion, but usually alongside three other terms (also not always well defined) to which it is subordinate: Stranger, Other and misfit. Within this heterogenous group, it acts as either a synonym or at best, as a notion close in meaning to the other three, a complement. It seems though that the term ‘outsider’ when referred to a literary character may, as an interpretative category (especially in first-person-narrative prose) prove useful and productive in terms of opening up the interpretation and analysis of a literary work towards dimensions other than those normally inhabited by the three usual companions of the ‘outsider’.