In nationalist or Islamist ideology, Islam defines itself through an identity which is homogeneous and self-enclosed. The goal of this study is to examine how the Tunisian writer Abdelwahab Meddeb draws from the margins of Islam to imagine instead an identity open to the Other and to possibilities of transformation. Meddeb replaces the traditional search for identity with what we shall call the search for hybridity. This new search, which he develops in his fiction (Talismano (1979), Phantasia (1986), and Tombeau d'Ibn Arabi (1987) and his essays, necessitates an examination of memory in order to extricate the forgotten traces of Arab-Islamic tradition (in particular sufism) and those suppressed remnants of European culture. Meddeb's project is carried out in two aspects: the look at the Self, and the look at the Other. in this way, the little-studied topic of Islam in Maghreb literature here reveals an audacious vision, an alternative imagination that dismantles the categories authentic/inauthentic and resists "the culture of resentment" which, according to Meddeb, is choking Islam today.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.26284 |
| Date | January 1994 |
| Creators | Kazi, Ania |
| Contributors | Boullata, Issa (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | French |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Institute of Islamic Studies.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001431453, proquestno: MM99908, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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