22nd Annual Student Research Conference
"Between-Two-Languages": Validation and Liberation in Fantasia: An Algerian Cavalcade
Monica J. Morrey
Dr. Hena Ahmad, Faculty Mentor
Algerian author and historian Assia Djebar, in her book Fantasia: An Algerian Cavalcade, documents the lives of unsung women during and after the 1830 War of Colonization and the 1954-1962 War of Independence in Algeria. Djebar describes the novel as a sort of autobiography in which, due to the foreign nature of the French language, she ultimately ends up feeling as if she is choosing another veil similar in nature to the veils worn by the women whose history she is documenting. It is not until the end of her novel that Djebar finds liberation through the compassionate words of a Frenchwoman and discovers true validation and satisfaction in her identity as one who lives in a world of both French and Arabic. It is in this self-described "deux-l'entre-langues," or, "between-two-languages" that Djebar succeeds in lifting the veil and attaining liberation and validation for herself and her brave countrywomen who went unnoticed before her.
Keywords: Assia Djebar, Algeria, Fantasia: An Algerian Cavalcade
Topic(s):English
History
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 37-4
Location: OP 2121
Time: 2:00