"Enfer et folie", propositions pour une lecture d'un texte de Youcef Sebti

Abstract

Hell and madness, an analysis of a poem by Youcef Sebti. Hell and madness, a short poem published in Anthologie de la nouvelle poésie algérienne, edited by Jean Sénac, is analysed without reference either to the author or to his other works. However, his situation as a citizen of a country now independent after a hundred years of colonization is not ignored. This is an attempt to uncover the deeper meaning of the poem, by dint of sylistic analysis. The problem — to which no definite solution is found — is the following : which value, positive or negative, can be accorded to the second pole of the poem, namely madness ? It seems possible to interpret the whole poem as the life-journey of a man, first through the hell of colonization (or in a more general sense, of oppression) followed by the struggle for independence. But even when he thinks he is out of it, he has to admit that the hell still exists, and that the only way out of it lies through madness. The fact that madness is metaphorically linked with the sea may, along with other indications, show that madness is a kind of liberation, a flight to heaven.