Divided Selves: The Language of the Body in Assia Djebar's L'amour, la fantasia and Marie Cardinal's Les mots pour le dire

Abstract

A comparison of L'Amour, la fantasia by Assia Djebar and Les mots pour le dire by Marie Cardinal shows the impact of the Algerian war for independence on the lives of these two women. Although their heritage places them on different sides of the conflict—Marie Cardinal's family belongs to the French settlers who regard Algeria as their homeland and Assia Djebar is Arab and Berber—they both find themselves divided between the French and Algerian cultures. These divisions are often expressed in these two autobiographical texts with images of a fragmented female body showing not only the political oppression and cultural dominance of Algeria by France but also the subjugation of women in both ofthese cultures.