La quête d’identité : hybridité culturelle dans six romans maghrébins

Abstract

The search for an identity in a situation of cultural hybridity brought about by French colonialism is studied in six French-language Maghrebi novels of three different generations: Le passé simple by Driss Chraïbi, Nedjma by Kateb Yacine, Ce que le jour doit à la nuit by Yasmina Khadra, Une année chez les Français by Fouad Laroui, Meursault, contre-enquête by Kamel Daoud and Le pays des autres by Leïla Slimani. The research question is which the differences are between the novels in relation to the identity quests. The hypothesis is that over time the identity conflict evolves, successively losing its sense of urgency. Through an analysis based on notions drawn from postcolonial theory – cultural hybridity, alterity, third space and ambivalence – we can confirm the hypothesis: over time, the question of identity becomes less hard. This difference is primarily due to the fact that the writers of the first generation write about their contemporary society, i.e. the Maghreb under French colonial rule, whereas those of the later generations write about history.