Experimental Nations: Or, the Invention of the Maghreb

R?da Bensma?a

ISBN 10: 069108937X / ISBN 13: 9780691089379

Published by Princeton University Press, 2003

About this Item

Tracing the move from the anticolonial, nationalist, and arabist literature of the early years to the relative cosmopolitanism and diversity of Maghrebi francophone literature today, this title draws on contemporary literary and postcolonial theory to "deterritorialize" its study. Series: Translation/Transnation. Num Pages: 232 pages, black & white illustrations. BIC Classification: 1HBA; 1HBM; 1HBT; 2ADF; DSBH; JPFN. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational; (U) Tertiary Education (US: College). Dimension: 229 x 152 x 13. Weight in Grams: 342. . 2003. First Edition. Paperback. . . . .

Seller Inventory # V9780691089379

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Experimental Nations: Or, the Invention of the Maghreb
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication Date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 069108937X
• ISBN 13: 9780691089379
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Jean-Paul Sartre's famous question, "For whom do we write?" strikes close to home for francophone writers from the Maghreb. Do these writers address their compatriots, many of whom are illiterate or read no French, or a broader audience beyond Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia? In Experimental Nations, Réda Bensmaïa argues powerfully against the tendency to view their works not as literary creations worth considering for their innovative style or language but as "ethnographic" texts and to appraise them only against the "French literary canon." He casts fresh light on the original literary strategies many such writers have deployed to reappropriate their cultural heritage and "reconfigure" their nations in the decades since colonialism.


Tracing the move from the anticolonial, nationalist, and arabist literature of the early years to the relative cosmopolitanism and diversity of Maghrebi francophone literature today, Bensmaïa draws on contemporary literary and postcolonial theory to "deterritorialize" its study. Whether in Assia Djebar's novels and films, Abdelkebir Khatabi's prose poems or critical essays, or the novels of Nabile Farès, Abdelwahab Meddeb, or Mouloud Feraoun, he raises the veil that hides the intrinsic richness of these artists' works from the eyes of even an attentive audience. Bensmaïa shows us how such Maghrebi writers have opened their nations as territories to rediscover and stake out, to invent, while creating a new language. In presenting this masterful account of "virtual" but veritable nations, he sets forth a new and fertile topography for francophone literature.

About the Author

Réda Bensmaïa is University Professor of French Studies and Comparative Literature at Brown University. He is the author of The Barthes Effect, The Year of Passages, and a novel entitled Alger ou la maladie de la mémoire.