Comment faire l’amour avec un Nègre sans se fatiguer (1985) by Dany Laferriere and L’art du maquillage (1997) by Sergio Kokis, are two novels that are part of what is known as migrant literature in Quebec. Both explore the question of identity and alterity, one from a racial perspective and the other, from an individual and artistic one. If, on the one hand, the presence of otherness within identity refers to the importance of the other for the subject within the diegesis of the novels, on the other hand, it also represents the trace of a discursive other in the writing of the two novels. Hence, this thesis explores the importance of the other through a study of intermedial references to four paintings that prove to be significant for a better understanding of both novels. In Laferrière’s novel, the subject objectifies the other through his perception and his literary creation, and through this process, he objectifies himself. In Kokis’s novel, not only does the subject’s quest to reach the real Other end in failure, but by representing the other in art, he will eventually change the other’s identity. Acting as a theoretical framework for this analysis are Jacques Lacan's psychoanalytic studies on the relationship between the subject and the other, and Irina O. Rajesky’s and Peter Wagner’s respective theoretical texts on intermediality, with the help of which the links between the paintings and the themes at play in the novels are explored. / Thesis (Master, French) -- Queen's University, 2010-09-29 17:17:50.692

The attempt to come to terms with the meaning of home, both literally and metaphorically, has become a major concern in literary studies. This dissertation explores the various novelistic representations of home from the point of view of Arab migrant novelists. Home, which contains various references to architectural structures, nations, states, or belonging, can no longer be thought of as a generalized or unified experience. For the migrant writer, the concept of home takes shape as a result of interaction between the past and the present, with memory playing a powerful role. It is created as a result of various forces in tension that include personal and national experiences, the context within which migration from the traditional home place occurred, ideological allegiances and identity politics. I argue through my exploration of a number of novels written by Arab writers who migrated from their home countries that the concept of home can no longer be referred to as a generalized, definite or a fixed notion. Given the different circumstances of the movement from one country to another, even among nationals of the same country, what are the themes that will be stressed in an Arab writer’s imagination and portrayal of home? Will writers stress the exclusions of exile, and define their presence away from the original country clearly as ‘exile’, fixating on painful nostalgia? How does memory influence the perception of home? Will those writers who have lived a long time in a new ‘foreign’ country emphasize the adaptations in the diaspora and the privileges of migration? Will they offer critiques of the national project, making a clear distinction between the personal home and the national project? Will such boundaries be as clearly defined for all the writers? Those questions guide my investigation into the representation of home in the novels of Palestinian, Lebanese and Iraqi writers living away from their three countries of origin. This investigation takes place within the postcolonial theoretical framework of the implications of the site of migration about the revision of the centrality of the nation as a referent of identity. The analysis uncovers a variety of illustrations in the imagination of home and the portrayal of the national experience in the novels. The analysis also highlights the inextricable link between the personal experience and the political experience, whereby the ideological stance on issues of nation and nationalism cannot be easily isolated in an assessment of the cultural product at the site of migration.

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This essay focuses on the concepts of relationship to local culture, identity and third space writing found in migrant literature and explores their relevance to James Joyce’s Dubliners in order to support a migrant reading of the collection. James Joyce has already been read as a migrant writer; however, Dubliners has not been considered as being an important contribution to this mode of writing. In this essay, the postcolonial theories of identity, third space writing and relationship to local culture are used in an in-depth reading of seven of the stories in the collection which I argue are written in the migrant mode of writing. With an introduction given on migrant writing and the concepts used, the platform is thus laid out for a thorough reading of the stories. What these stories depict is that of Ireland’s perpetual state of underdevelopment, due to its colonial past under British rule. In reading the stories in theoretical terms of migrant writing, one uncovers the way they construct Ireland as a colonized space, reiterating Joyce’s version of home and its decaying, cultural potential. What one finds is not only the ironic voice of Joyce’s narrative describing the repetitive outplaying of British stereotypes of Irishness but also of a quieter tone tinged with hope and longing for a true, cultural change. This essay shifts the interpretative focus to specific issues that would otherwise not be visible if one were to read it as merely being modernist. It establishes the migrant quality of the collection and solidifies the standing of Joyce as a migrant writer.

SUMMARY: This thesis deals with the phenomenon of German migrant literature in the context of contemporary Austrian literature. The theoretical part is about general questions of the migrant literature in German-speaking countries - from the search of a suitable term to the dispute about its justification - and further there is a description of the specific situation in Austria. The second and the third part are dedicated to the presentation of two exponents of this sort of literature, the Pole Radek Knapp and the Bulgarian Dimitré Dinev. Based on the analysis of their two most important novels, Herrn Kukas Empfehlungen and Engelszungen, the presence of themes and motifs referring to their origin or migrant experience was confirmed. Nevertheless, as the comparison with their complete works shows, these themes and motifs are definitely not the exclusive ones.

A two-way bond between translation and migration has appeared in the most recent texts in the social sciences and humanities: this connection between the two is exemplified by the mobility metaphor, which considers both practices as journeys across cultural, linguistic and geographical borders. Among the different ways this mobility metaphor can be studied, two particular areas of investigation are of interest for this research: firstly, migrant writing, a literary genre shaped from the increasing migratory movements worldwide; the second area of interest is literary translation, the activity that shapes the way these narratives are disseminated beyond the linguistic borders they were produced in. My investigation into the role of literary translation in the construction and circulation of a migrant discourse starts with the claim that writing and translation in itinerant contexts are driven by, and participate in, the idea of the journey: an interlingual and intercultural flow regulated by social/economic/artistic constraints, a movement in which the migrant experience is ‘translated’ in writing and then ‘migrated’ across languages and spaces. The present analysis focuses on the representative case study of migrant narratives by Canadian writers of Italian descent: their shared reflections on the themes of nostalgia and the mythical search for roots, together with a set of specific linguistic devices – hybridity, juxtaposition of languages, idiolects and registers – create a distinctive literary migrant discourse, that of the return to the land of origin. Guided primarily by the theoretical framework of Cultural Studies, the first part of this work seeks to illustrate how thematic and linguistic elements contribute to the construction of a homecoming discourse in original migrant narratives, and how this relates to the translation practice. Subsequently, the analysis moves to the examination of how these motives are reproduced in the translated texts, and what is/are the key rationale/s behind the translation of this type of works. Ultimately, my research takes a sociologically informed interest in the influence of translation and its agents in endorsing and/or manipulating this rationale in the receiving culture. In fact, this research aims to represent equally the human and cultural-linguistic aspects that affect these translational journeys, concentrating, firstly, on the actors (authors and literary translators) and the social and artistic environments that surround the production of both the source and target texts and, subsequently, on the texts themselves.

This thesis, consisting of four chapters, examines the shifting identities in contemporary québécois migrant literature, as well as the way the Other is represented by the authors in our study. The first chapter is devoted to the methodology and the theoretical framework for our research, which, in terms of postcolonial critique, is based on Homi Bhabha’s concept of « third space » as a creative literary space and fertile ground for the exploration of identity. Our study also explores concepts pertaining to specific traits of migrant literature, such as oral tradition, irony and humour, and transcultural identity, from theorists such as Janet Paterson, Linda Hutcheon and Lise Gauvin. The second chapter focuses on the writing of Marie-Célie Agnant and Abla Farhoud, both of whom use the notions of home and of oral tradition to gather the generations and to establish family histories. These two authors portray the image of a grandmother, exiled in Québec, and represent these women as the backbone of their respective families. The third chapter takes a very different approach to the question of Otherness, examining the use of irony and humour as tools for social critique in the work of Dany Laferrière and Pan Bouyoucas, two authors who use humour to mask the serious nature of their subject matter. Their critique of modern society is developed by exploiting the concept of «Otherness». The fourth and final chapter is dedicated to a more contemporary expression of the experience of migration, as portrayed in the work of Kim Thúy and Ying Chen, whose writing signals a significant departure from the themes of the earliest literature classified as « migrant », in the sense that they both adopt a neutrality of tone and create a literary production mostly absent of spatiotemporal reference. For Thúy and ! vi Chen, writing represents an apprenticeship of the French language and of cultural integration. Today’s Québécois migrant literature questions the pluralisation of identities, as well as the concepts of individual identity and collective identity. As such, the developing pluralistic nature of Québécois society is better represented within its literary scene. Within the framework of our study, what interests us the most is the changing face of the migrant identity over the course of the past fifty years, as well as the trajectory of its representation in this body of literature. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis examines the evolution in the representation of migrant identity and the experience of migration at the heart of contemporary Québécois literature. This research questions the pragmatic aspect of literature, specifically the establishment of new identities in twentieth and twenty-first century Québec and Canada. Our corpus explores the literary representation of life on the margins of a host society. By applying the postcolonial research on Otherness and Identity of theorists such as Homi Bhabha, Lise Gauvin and Janet Paterson, we are able to analyse the distinct characteristics of the literary production on memory and history, and on displacement, that originate from what Bhabha calls the gap between cultures.

Abstract This thesis offers the first detailed critical account of the Greek-Australian writer, Alex Doucas (1900-1962) who came to Australia in 1927 as a migrant from Asia Minor. It attempts to place his work in the perspectives of Greek and Australian literatures and to evaluate his position both as a migrant and as a writer. The Asia Minor Catastrophe and the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey in 1923, as well as the Great Depression he faced in Australia along with many other Australians had a profound effect on his social outlook. Considered one of the pioneers of Greek-Australian Literature, Doucas played an important role in the development of Greek community life in Australia during the pre- and post-World War II periods. His work consists of two published novels (one posthumously) and a significant body of published and unpublished, stories, poems, translations and essays. Out of print for some decades, it remains largely unknown to the general public or even to academic circles in Greece and in Australia. It was, however, a landmark of Greek-Australian Literature and continues to have more than historical interest in its treatment of migration, exile and displacement, and in its use of intercultural perspectives to forge a positive vision for humanity. Although forced into ill-paid manual labour for much of his life after his arrival in Australia, Alex Doucas tried to develop links and relationships with Australian intellectual circles and to become involved in Australian life in the broadest way. At the same time, he never lost contact with social, political and literary developments in Greece. Alex Doucas maintained close relations with both the Greek and Australian literary traditions. As a writer he belongs to the Greek generation of the 1930s and its literary traditions. In his work, he dealt with events which took place in Anatolia before the Asia Minor Catastrophe as well as with the impact the catastrophe had on Greek society. He is one of the first writers of his generation who turned his attention to the “other side of the coin” and investigated the impact of the Catastrophe on the Turkish people. This perspective was adopted mainly due to the openness that he found in Australia, an openness that led to Multiculturalism. Alex Doucas was a multiculturalist before his time. His work is a fine example of the Australian version of Multiculturalism. Through his brother Stratis Doucas (also a writer) and others, he kept himself informed on all sorts of changes and developments in his native country, Greece, especially as it was shaped after the Asia Minor Catastrophe. At the same time, he tried to understand the Australian way of life, its culture and its literary traditions. His bi-cultural position gave him a powerful perspective. He attempted to understand the Australian way of life through his Greekness and to find answers for problematic events that happened in Greece through his Australian experience. Across the entire span of Doucas’s work, it is clear that his political philosophy and his belief in the goals of socialism played a crucial role in his consciousness of himself as a writer whose role was to provide the artistic equivalent of the philosophical basis of Marxism, best expressed in the Theses on Feuerbach (1845) by Marx, in his famous dictum, "Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it". In other words, it was never enough for Doucas simply to describe in social realist terms the conditions of life and the aspirations of human beings. His aim was to show how these conditions might be changed for the better, not only for the individual, but for the community as a whole. Equally, he wished to show how people’s aspirations, particularly those of an immigrant community familiar with exile, suffering and loss, might be more fully realised.

Abstract This thesis offers the first detailed critical account of the Greek-Australian writer, Alex Doucas (1900-1962) who came to Australia in 1927 as a migrant from Asia Minor. It attempts to place his work in the perspectives of Greek and Australian literatures and to evaluate his position both as a migrant and as a writer. The Asia Minor Catastrophe and the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey in 1923, as well as the Great Depression he faced in Australia along with many other Australians had a profound effect on his social outlook. Considered one of the pioneers of Greek-Australian Literature, Doucas played an important role in the development of Greek community life in Australia during the pre- and post-World War II periods. His work consists of two published novels (one posthumously) and a significant body of published and unpublished, stories, poems, translations and essays. Out of print for some decades, it remains largely unknown to the general public or even to academic circles in Greece and in Australia. It was, however, a landmark of Greek-Australian Literature and continues to have more than historical interest in its treatment of migration, exile and displacement, and in its use of intercultural perspectives to forge a positive vision for humanity. Although forced into ill-paid manual labour for much of his life after his arrival in Australia, Alex Doucas tried to develop links and relationships with Australian intellectual circles and to become involved in Australian life in the broadest way. At the same time, he never lost contact with social, political and literary developments in Greece. Alex Doucas maintained close relations with both the Greek and Australian literary traditions. As a writer he belongs to the Greek generation of the 1930s and its literary traditions. In his work, he dealt with events which took place in Anatolia before the Asia Minor Catastrophe as well as with the impact the catastrophe had on Greek society. He is one of the first writers of his generation who turned his attention to the “other side of the coin” and investigated the impact of the Catastrophe on the Turkish people. This perspective was adopted mainly due to the openness that he found in Australia, an openness that led to Multiculturalism. Alex Doucas was a multiculturalist before his time. His work is a fine example of the Australian version of Multiculturalism. Through his brother Stratis Doucas (also a writer) and others, he kept himself informed on all sorts of changes and developments in his native country, Greece, especially as it was shaped after the Asia Minor Catastrophe. At the same time, he tried to understand the Australian way of life, its culture and its literary traditions. His bi-cultural position gave him a powerful perspective. He attempted to understand the Australian way of life through his Greekness and to find answers for problematic events that happened in Greece through his Australian experience. Across the entire span of Doucas’s work, it is clear that his political philosophy and his belief in the goals of socialism played a crucial role in his consciousness of himself as a writer whose role was to provide the artistic equivalent of the philosophical basis of Marxism, best expressed in the Theses on Feuerbach (1845) by Marx, in his famous dictum, "Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it". In other words, it was never enough for Doucas simply to describe in social realist terms the conditions of life and the aspirations of human beings. His aim was to show how these conditions might be changed for the better, not only for the individual, but for the community as a whole. Equally, he wished to show how people’s aspirations, particularly those of an immigrant community familiar with exile, suffering and loss, might be more fully realised.