Language as Medium and as Fiction in Assia Djebar's Work

Abstract

Abstract A critical examination of the fundamental role played by languages in Assia Djebar's body of work and in contemporary Algeria. This chapter analyzes Assia Djebar's conception of language from her early novels, to later texts such as Fantasia: An Algerian Cavalcade and Algerian White . While trying to briefly locate her in world literature, it argues that language plays a fictional role in her writings. My main argument is that there is a striking evolution between her early conception and use of the French language, considered in its mimetic aspect, and her later consideration on language as elaborated in Algerian White .