The Self Narrating the Other: Between Colonial Literature and Algerian Literature Written in French
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70091/Atras/vol06no02.35Keywords:
Algerianism, assimilationism, colonial literature, French-language Algerian literature, ideologyAbstract
The colonial past continues to affect Algeria's cultural present, and many issues related to memory remain unresolved. Algeria’s colonial history unfolded in multiple phases, some of which have received considerable scholarly attention, while others remain relatively neglected. This article focuses on one such underexplored period, described by Abdelkader Jaghloul as sous-étudiée (“insufficiently studied”), despite its significance for understanding both contemporary Algerian literature and the current cultural and social realities of Algeria. The period in question—roughly spanning from 1900 to 1935—has been identified by Jean Déjeux as “Algérianism” in the context of French literature, and as “assimilationism” from the perspective of Algerian literature written in French. This study poses the following question: How were the coloniser and the colonised represented in the literature of this period? It seeks to answer this by presenting and comparing literary works by French authors such as Louis Bertrand, Robert Randau, and Albert Truphémus, alongside Algerian writers such as Mohamed Ould Cheikh, Abdelkader Hadj Hammou, and Shukri Khoudja.
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