Ecriture Romanesque , Témoignage Historique : la Figure du Bandit d’Honneur dans La Colline Oubliée de M. Mammeri , Zones d’Ombres et de Lumière

Abstract

In this article we will try to see in Mammeri’s novel, serving as a case in point, the complexity of the historical dimension of the testimony in the novel genre. Indeed, this novel evokes implicitly the phenomenon of bandits of honor during the colonial period in Algeria. However, unlike history books, it addresses this issue by revealing some hidden faces of this type of characters, bandits of honor, for some, outlaws, for others. The novel illustrates, in effect, the duplicity and complexity of this character. Indeed, Mammeri traces the trajectory of a young, idle and miserable boy pushed by the injustices of colonization to revolt. The behavior of the character and his portrait are not without reminding us two historical figures of the Algerian resistance to French colonization. Nonetheless, what interest us in the first place are not so much the similarities that this character bears to those two historical figures, as the limits of the craft of the novelist. Our endeavor aims, therefore, to show the limits of the historical record in the novel and to provide a relevant explanation.