Thesis advisor: Régine Jean-Charles / Taking Fatna Ait Sabbah’s two editions of La Femme dans l'inconscient musulman (1982 & 2010) as my point of departure, I analyze the image of the woman in several contemporary French and Arabic texts. Sabbah argues that buried in early Muslim pornographic texts lies an image of woman that reflects the unconscious view of her in the masculine imagination. In this image woman is positioned in opposition to the Muslim ethical system largely due to her subversive sexual desire. Sabbah’s texts raise key questions: Where a transformation of the feminine condition takes place, is it accompanied by a corresponding change in the image of the woman in the Muslim unconscious? How does the collective unconscious change? Is the unconscious always a reactionary force? Does contemporary literature reinforce Sabbah’s conception or depart from it? The novelists I have selected combine two pertinent attributes: they critique their own society and they examine female subjectivity, or in other words how a woman perceives her role, her identity and her consciousness. Through an analysis of heterodox texts, I focus particularly on how the Arab world sees itself. My first chapter compares Sabbah’s two editions, including her shift in tone and agenda, and the lacunae in her texts. In my second chapter I study Moroccan novelist Rajae Benchemsi’s Marrakech, lumière d'exil (2002) and Nawal el Saadawi’s Woman at Point Zero (1975) in terms of how the erotic and space function in both texts. I explore the women characters’ compliance with or resistance to Maghrebian notions of feminine and masculine space. I argue that the individual choices regarding space help define the characters’ identity. In my third chapter I examine the Sufi view of woman as included in Rajae Benchemsi’s La Controverse des temps (2006) and Ahmed Toufiq’s Abu Musa's Women Neighbors (2006). I point out that the Sufi view presents a counter-discourse to Sabbah’s description of the image of the woman in the Muslim unconscious. If Fatna Sabbah sees woman in early erotic and orthodox texts as reduced to an exclusively sexual essence, these texts present a spiritual dimension to woman’s identity, a dimension which in the context of Sabbah’s work, I argue, has a transgressive aspect. In my fourth chapter I analyze the mother figure in two novels by the Algerian writer, Boualem Sansal: Harraga (2005) and Rue Darwin (2011). I describe the distance between the representation of the mother in Sansal’s work and the image of the woman in the Muslim unconscious as described by Sabbah. I conclude that while the image of the woman as described by Sabbah continues to be present in contemporary texts, other images, remarkable for their diversity, have emerged. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Romance Languages and Literatures.

A presente dissertação tem por objetivo analisar elementos que constituem a nação argelina presentes num dos principais romances da literatura magrebina de língua francesa: Nedjma, do escritor argelino Kateb Yacine. A obra foi publicada em 1956, época caracterizada pelas tensões decorrentes do início da guerra de independência (1954-1962) que dividiam o país em dois, entre aqueles que preferiam uma Argélia francesa e aqueles que não renunciavam à luta por uma nação independente. As rupturas decorrentes da colonização francesa e as diversas invasões ao longo de sua história marcam a narrativa do romance, cuja análise demonstra que Nedjma vem à luz para afirmar a singularidade argelina. Afinal, sua escrita se faz nos interstícios do conflito entre duas culturas distintas e revela o engajamento político de Kateb. Para o desenvolvimento da análise interpretativa, este trabalho apoia-se em teorias que problematizam as consequências da colonização para os povos submetidos a esse regime. / The present dissertation aims to analyze the elements that constitute the Algerian nation presented in one of the founding novels of Maghrebian literature in French: Nedjma, by the Algerian writer Kateb Yacine. The work was published in 1956, which was a period characterized by the tensions resulting from the beginning of the war of independence (1954- 1962) that divided the country into two, between those who preferred a French Algeria and those who did not stop struggling for an independent nation. The ruptures resulting from French colonization and the various invasions throughout its history mark the narrative of the novel, which analysis point out that Nedjma comes to light to show the Algerian singularity. Moreover, this novel is written under the conflicts between two different cultures and reveals Kateb´s political engagement. On the development of interpretive analysis, this paper draws on theories on the consequences of colonization for the people under this regime.

A presente dissertação tem por objetivo analisar elementos que constituem a nação argelina presentes num dos principais romances da literatura magrebina de língua francesa: Nedjma, do escritor argelino Kateb Yacine. A obra foi publicada em 1956, época caracterizada pelas tensões decorrentes do início da guerra de independência (1954-1962) que dividiam o país em dois, entre aqueles que preferiam uma Argélia francesa e aqueles que não renunciavam à luta por uma nação independente. As rupturas decorrentes da colonização francesa e as diversas invasões ao longo de sua história marcam a narrativa do romance, cuja análise demonstra que Nedjma vem à luz para afirmar a singularidade argelina. Afinal, sua escrita se faz nos interstícios do conflito entre duas culturas distintas e revela o engajamento político de Kateb. Para o desenvolvimento da análise interpretativa, este trabalho apoia-se em teorias que problematizam as consequências da colonização para os povos submetidos a esse regime. / The present dissertation aims to analyze the elements that constitute the Algerian nation presented in one of the founding novels of Maghrebian literature in French: Nedjma, by the Algerian writer Kateb Yacine. The work was published in 1956, which was a period characterized by the tensions resulting from the beginning of the war of independence (1954- 1962) that divided the country into two, between those who preferred a French Algeria and those who did not stop struggling for an independent nation. The ruptures resulting from French colonization and the various invasions throughout its history mark the narrative of the novel, which analysis point out that Nedjma comes to light to show the Algerian singularity. Moreover, this novel is written under the conflicts between two different cultures and reveals Kateb´s political engagement. On the development of interpretive analysis, this paper draws on theories on the consequences of colonization for the people under this regime.

L'importance de l'Histoire dans l'œuvre de Rachid Boudjedra fait l'unanimité des critiques. En s'appuyant sur la narratologie et plus particulièrement sur la théorie du langage performatif de John Langshow Austin, le présent travail tâche de démontrer que la construction de ses romans est mobilisée dans l'objectif de faire émerger l'histoire de l'Algérie et du monde arabe tout en se distinguant de l'écriture de l'historien. Sans s'arrêter à la simple mention des événements historiques, l'Histoire dans l'écriture romanesque de Boudjedra les retrace en tant que mémoire individuelle. Cette posture amène l'écrivain à manipuler les faits et les textes historiques et ainsi à brouiller la frontière entre la fiction et l'histoire. Cette approche constitue, pour l'auteur, un acte d'appropriation d'une Histoire dépossédée par le colonialisme puis occultée par les autorités algériennes. L'écrivain participe ainsi à la réinvention, rendue nécessaire par l'acculturation consécutive à la période coloniale, de l'écriture algérienne. / Critics are unanimous regarding the importance of History in Rachid Boudjedra's work. Based on narratology and especially on the performative theory of John Langshow Austin, the present study tries to enlighten the fact that the construction of his novels aims to bring out history of Algeria and of the Arab world while distinguishing itself from an historian work. Without stopping at the mere mention of historical events, History in Boudjedra fictional writings introduces them as individual memory. This posture leads this author to manipulate historical facts and texts and thus to blur the line between fiction and history. This approach is, for the author, an act of appropriation of a History dispossessed by colonialism and then overshadowed by the Algerian authorities. The writer thus contributes to the reinvention, made necessary by the acculturation resulting from the colonial period, of writing in Algeria.

This thesis, situated in the context of francophone and maghrebian postcolonial studies, examines the impact of identity discourses on the protagonists’ subjectivity in Assia Djebar’s La Femme sans sépulture (2002) and La Disparition de la langue française (2003) and Nina Bouraoui’s Garçon manqué (2000) and Mes mauvaises pensées (2005). These novels draw a parallel between two historically connected spaces, France and Algeria, and periods,  the years of the Algerian war of independence and the rise of Islamists in 1990s  Algeria. The movement between the two spaces and periods constitutes in a literal and figurative sense a third space that contributes to the protagonist’s hybridisation. Hybridity is analysed as a narrative and discursive strategy that subverts and recodifies different identity dis­courses that transmit normative ideas about cultural, ethnic and gendered belonging. Hybridity is also shown in the literary genre. By connecting the past and the present through individual and collective reminiscence, the four novels reinterpret history while transgressing the frontiers of classical genres: the fictional, the testimonial and the autobiographical intertwine with the historiographical. Through the character of the narrator-cineaste and the story of Zoulikha, Assia Djebar reconstitutes in La Femme sans sépulture her own heritage and that of the interviewed women which is associated with Luce Irigaray’s theory of feminine genealogy as a model of identification. The languages’ different transcultural influences are shown in La Disparition de la langue française in the light of Homi Bhabha’s theory of cultural translation. Bouraoui’s fiction shows more radically than Djebar’s the body as a surface of cultural inscription, determined by ethnic and gendered norms. To emphasize the sociocultural dimension of the Bouraouian protagonist’s problems of identity the analysis uses Judith Butler’s theories about the performativity, the recognition and the melancholy of gender. In the four novels the return to one’s origins remains an illusion. The only place where the protagonists can negotiate and express their hybrid subjectivity is constituted in and through their writing. / Cette thèse, située dans le contexte des études francophones maghrébines et postcoloniales, analyse l’impact des discours identitaires sur la subjectivité des protagonistes dans La Femme sans sépulture (2002) et La Disparition de la langue française (2003) d’Assia Djebar, et dans Garçon manqué (2000) et Mes mauvaises pensées (2005) de Nina Bouraoui. Ces romans  mettent en parallèle deux espaces historiquement liés, la France et l’Algérie, et deux périodes, le temps de la guerre d’indépendance algérienne et les années 1990 avec la montée des islamistes en Algérie. Le mouvement entre les deux espaces et temps constitue au sens littéral et au sens figuré un tiers espace, qui contribue à l’hybridation des protagonistes. L’hybridité est analysée comme une stratégie narrative et discursive qui subvertit et récodifie différents discours identitaires véhiculant des idées normatives concernant l’appartenance culturelle, ethnique et genrée des protagonistes. L’hybridation se reflète également dans le genre littéraire. À travers la remémoration individuelle et collective des événements passés mis en rapport avec le présent, les quatre romans donnent une nouvelle signification à l’Histoire en transgressant les frontières entre les genres classiques : le fictionnel, le témoignage et l’autobiographique s’inscrivent dans l’historiographique. Moyennant le personnage de la narratrice-cinéaste et l’histoire de Zoulikha, Djebar reconstitue dans La Femme sans sépulture, son propre héritage et celle des femmes interviewées, ce qui est associé à la théorie de Luce Irigaray sur la généalogie féminine au sens d’un modèle d’identification. Les différentes influences transculturelles des langues sont éclairées dans La Disparition de la langue française à la lumière de la théorie de la traduction culturelle de Homi Bhabha. Bouraoui montre plus radicalement que Djebar le corps comme surface d’inscription culturelle gérée par des normes ethnicisantes et genrées. Pour souligner la dimension socioculturelle des problèmes identitaires de la protagoniste bouraouienne, les théories de Judith Butler concernant la performativité du genre, la reconnaissance et la mélancolie genrée sont utilisées. Le retour à l’origine reste dans les quatre romans illu­soire. Le seul lieu où les protagonistes puissent négocier et exprimer leur subjectivité hybride est constitué dans et à travers l’écriture.