Aesthetics and Engagement New Novel / New Wave Treatments of Independence-Era North Africa

Date of Award

2008

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Van Tuyl, Jocelyn

Keywords

New Novel, North Africa, French Colonialism, Political Art

Area of Concentration

Literature

Abstract

This thesis considers the use of the formally experimental strategies and themes associated with the French New Novel and New Wave cinema to articulate experiences by, from, and about the Maghreb in the era of its independence. Because of these movements� aesthetically experimental characteristics, criticism has until only recently excluded consideration of these works� political and historical contexts. Yet the 1950s and 1960s not only encompassed the period of greatest productivity for the New Novel and New Wave, these decades also saw the newfound independence of North African countries from French colonial rule. The first chapter discusses Algerian poet, novelist, and playwright Kateb Yacine�s 1956 Nedjma, the first novel to express the anxieties associated with Algerian identity under the influence of French colonialism in a formally experimental way. The next chapter examines Claude Ollier�s 1958 novel La mise en sc�ne, which oscillates between reactionary justifications for the colonial enterprise and a budding awareness of the relations between colonized and colonizer. The final chapter studies the 1963 film Muriel, ou le temps d�un retour, written by Jean Cayrol and directed by Alain Resnais, which expresses an emerging consciousness about French culpability in the aftermath of the violent Algerian War. Each chapter traces socio-political underpinnings in four recurring New Novel / New Wave themes present in the works�uncertain and ineffable acts of violence, a compulsive preoccupation with memory, the transformation of history into myth, and the representation of national identity as feminine and unknowable. This thesis concludes that New Novel / New Wave strategies and concerns can foster illuminating representations of tumultuous historical moments.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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