Francophonie or Algérianophonie ? : Rethinking Algerian literature en mouvance

Ben Ali Amer, Chabha (2021) Francophonie or Algérianophonie ? : Rethinking Algerian literature en mouvance. In: (Im)mobilisation, 2021-03-06 - 2021-03-06, online. (Unpublished)

Abstract

Jean-Marc Moura, in Littératures Francophones et théories postcoloniales (1999), argues that the Francophonie « est un phénomène politique aussi bien que linguistique et littéraire. » (98). In this regard, Lynda Nawal Tebbani, in “Réflexions autour d’une Algérianité Littéraire” (2015), contends that : « la littérature Algérienne est toujours enclavée dans les qualifications d’hybride, postcoloniale, ou aliénée. […] elle (la littérature) est toujours approchée – abordée – par les problématiques linguistiques, socio-politiques qui lui ôtent toute réflexion sur sa poéticité » (317). Drawing upon this, this paper discusses whether there is a possibility for an Algérianophonie (Ammar Koroghli, 2009) or a literary Algerianity. Accordingly, this paper treats about the notion of the literary Algerianity and the possibility to explore the identity of the Algerian literary text beyond the francophone and the postcolonial realms. Whether a demarking trait is remarked in contemporary Algerian literature, Mustapha Benfodil, Lynda Nawal Tebbani, and Sarah Haidar demonstrate, in their works respectively, “a translinguistic interculturality that transcends the political issues of literature and language” (Tebbani, 2015: 318). Drawing on Tebbani’s research, I study the notion of Algérianophonie, as a way to rethink the Francophone and postcolonial studies, in the novel L’éloge de la perte (2017) by Lynda Nawal Tebbani, and the novel by Mustapha Benfodil Body Writing(2018), who draw attention to the aesthetics of Algerian literature rather than the sociopolitical and the sociolinguistic conundrum. That it is to say that the Algerian writer emphasises the art of writing in the contemporary Algerian novel instead of the issues surrounding writing.