« A La Croisée des Chemins, Il Peut y Avoir L’autre » Lecture Croisée de Littoral de Wajdi Mouawad, Les Versets du Pardon de Myriam Antaki, et Palestine de Hubert Haddad

Abstract

« A la croisée des chemins, il peut y avoir l’autre » (“At the crossroads, we might meet the Other”) is a comparative reading of the following works: Tideline (1999) by Wajdi Mouawad, Palestine (2007) by Hubert Haddad, and Verses of Forgiveness (1999) by Myriam Antaki. The works of these authors originated in the same region, the Mashrek (Middle East), and all carry the wounds of its geographical and identity conflicts. The Tideline, a space conducive to separation as well as reunion serves as a metaphor through which I analyze these works. The paper demonstrates how these works are not only about a quest of the self, but also, more importantly, a pathway to the Other. It focuses on the essential place of literature in this region divided by identity conflicts and wars by demonstrating how literature becomes the space where these identities are best situated and described. Literature allows for a multiplicity of points of view that help bypass the confines of subjectivity and uniformity and best answer the question of identity in this region by including the point of view of the Other.