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ABSTRACTS
Valérie Orlando (Illinois Wesleyan University) Algeria’s Engagés: Writing from the Front Lines of Exile; Salim Bachi’s “Le Chien d’Ulysse” and Malika Mokeddem’s “La Transe des insoumis” Dissidence and délocalisation, have come to signify the contemporary literature of Algeria’s most recent authors, known as the ‘engagés.’ 1 Authors such as Salim Bachi (Le Chien d’Ulysse, 2001) and Malika Mokeddem (La Transe des insoumis, 2002) contribute to a ‘new literary consciousness [that] has not always been fully recognized. This consciousness very rapidly moved beyond the limits of national boundaries to become open to–as well as to open–a field that is now planetwide.’ 2 Engagé means that the Algerian author is often looking from the outside inward to engage in socio-political and cultural dialogues pertinent to Algeria. Engagement as defined by Jean Bessière means that: L’engagement peut être entendu au sens de conduite ou au sens d’acte de décision, selon qu’il désigne un mode d’existence dans et par lequel l’individu est impliqué activement dans le cours du monde, s’éprouve responsable de ce qui arrive, ouvre un avenir à l’action, ou qu’il désigne un acte par lequel l’individu se lie lui-même dans son être futur, à propos soit de certaines démarches à accomplir, soit d’une forme d’activité, soit même sa propre vie. 3Often living in exile proves to be the only means by which these authors are able to “ouvre un avenir à l’action.” They recognize that they must move outside their homeland in order to objectively critique the socio-political structures within it. “All exile presupposes a center, a point of origin from which one stands or moves away” yet by moving into this “eccentric” space, the author “draws nearer to new points, new ideas, and assembles around them multiple centers.” 4 From multiple centers authors such as Bachi and Mokeddem critique what, in the case of Algeria, has been egregious violence that has turned postcolonial Algeria upside down. The assassinations of many journalists, authors and political figures in the 1990s forced many writers to flee to France. As these “eccentrics” seek to come to terms with their difference as expatriates living in France, they also attempt to explain the often violent socio-political situations reigning in Algeria. Mokeddem and Bachi engage in a new “ex-centric” politics that is housed within a literary framework. Their themes are construed with the hope of changing the current socio-political climate of Algeria. This article will explore the world of the Algerian engagé, contemporary author who lives on the edges of two very conflicting worlds. Through exploration of novels by well-known authors, Salim Bachi and Malika Mokeddem both of whom reside in France, certain urgent questions will be discussed. What does it mean to be “engagé”? Does gender play a role in forming the structures of themes of engagement in the francophone Algerian novel? How do these authors view exile in France, and does exile change the contours of how one engages in socio-political debates pertinent to both the homeland and the host country? |
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