The political characterization of Algerian literature under the era of colonialism has been widely discussed. Nevertheless, due to its major political dimension more sensed than debated scholars have focused primarily on rigid categorization and interpretive templates, at the exclusion of concepts within the texts deviating from the colonial credo. The objective remains to broaden the scope of the Algerian Interwar novel by proposing a reading cognizant of its literary fundamentals (aesthetic, tone, style, rhetoric) and subsequent interaction with ideological agendas, not necessarily in terms of a historical reinterpretation. The ambiguity inherent in the Algerian novel precludes its classification as solely a thesis novel and demands rigor in its perception as multifaceted in nature. Stemming from this, one questions the concept of a thesis novel, presupposing that intrinsic polyphony will conceive not only one, but multiple theses. Without this presupposition, the Algerian Interwar novel becomes a novel of allegiance with disregard to the subtlety and complexity of the colonial environment from which the novel evolved, leading to deprivation of its essence as a literary piece. Indeed, under the colonial regime, the novels were conscripted into the appareil idéologique dÉtat (Althusser). Despite apparent endorsement of the colonial ideology, the novels themselves generate their own internal mechanisms of subversion, via the creation of an intellectual movement (Algérianisme) which undermines the state-sponsored politico-artistic body. If the novel can be considered at the least as a breaking point of any univocal interpretation (as characters were not created to be the voice of the author), then one must know that a text is not simply a line of words, yielding a sole meaning in a theological sense (the message of the Author/God), but rather exists as a multidimensional space where varied writings join and compete but yet none can be perceived the original source. (Roland Barthes).
The intention of this work is to render justice to these texts by a literary analysis of the writings of Robert Randau and Abdelkader Hadj Hamou. In so doing, various facets and modalities will emerge from the colonial novel which will reject the traditional interpretative readings.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-04262007-180525 |
| Date | 21 June 2007 |
| Creators | Khelouz, Nacer |
| Contributors | Roberta Hatcher, Ronald Judy, Giuseppina Mecchia, Daniel Russell, Philip Watts |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-04262007-180525/ |
| Rights | restricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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