Yasmina Khadra Research Articles

Nefarious Implications in Yasmina Khadra’s The Sirens of Baghdad

The research paper is mainly concerned with the projection of the nefarious implications as exposed in Yasmina Khadra’s The Sirens of Baghdad (2007). This novel depicts the evildoings of the American soldiers that have been practiced against the Iraqi people living in Iraq. They have committed nefarious yet shameful acts against the Iraqi individuals whom they consider their foes, whereas the latter are innocent and friendly people Evil has been an everlasting wrongdoing on earth since the creation of the world. It has been extremely embedded in the nature of man and is sure fought by good-natured people. It is no wonder to find a whole country like the United States practice evildoings against many and various nations, being the posterity of the tribes of the Vikings, Vandals, Gales, Danes and above all the Anglo-Saxons that invaded Britain, slaughtered its nation and settled in it in the fifth and sixth centuries AD and whose posterity are still oppressing other nations and invading countries all over the world. The research meticulously examines those nefarious actions made by the occupying American soldiers depicted in the titular novel, pointing out the bitter behavior of the Americans against the Iraqi nation as represented in The Sirens of Baghdad. Edward W. Said’s representations in his book Orientalism unfolds the Westerners’ crooked means in exploiting other nations, whose oriental perspective cannot be exempted from this study.

Deconstructing Orientalist Representation of The East in Yasmina Khadra’s Sirens of Baghdad

Because of the blatant, direct persecution, and misrepresentation of all Iraqis, which comes from an Orientalist’s ignorant perception of the Orient (Iraqi), this study will be conducted to show the different misrepresentations of Arabs and Iraqis by the American tropes in a novel entitled The Sirens of Baghdad written by an Algerian novelist, Khadra Yasmina. The current study explores orientalists’ misrepresentation and the Western gaze towards the Middle East, especially the Iraqi character. Khadra portrays the complex life of Iraqis during the invasion of 2003, in the context of us versus them. Drawing on the critical framework of Orientalism theory by the theorist Edward Said, this paper examines how Sirens of Baghdad deconstructs Orientalist representations by giving voice to marginalized perspectives and resisting the erasure of local knowledge and agency. Khadra's narrative subverts simplistic depictions of “Islamic extremism”, highlighting the multifaceted social, political, and psychological factors that shape an individual's path towards violence and, ultimately, the possibility of redemption and nonviolent resistance. The study emphasizes the importance of embracing nonviolent resistance which represents a powerful alternative to the spiral of violence, gesturing towards the possibility of reconciliation and moral progress.

Fundamentalism in The Sirens of Baghdad by Yasmina Khadra

The emergence of religious extremism and its effects on people and society are explored in Khadra's The Sirens of Baghdad, especially in light of the Arab world. This study examines the fundamentalist motif found in Yasmina Khadra's The Sirens of Baghdad. The story's protagonist's journey illuminates the complicated philosophies, goals, and repercussions of fundamentalist groups. This research investigates the manner in which Khadra depicts the captivating nature of fundamentalism, the elements that contribute to its attractiveness, and the mechanisms via which it may influence and exploit people. Furthermore, this analysis delves into the novel's exploration of the socio-political and cultural circumstances that contribute to the emergence of fundamentalism. Additionally, it scrutinizes the novel's exploration of the tensions and conflicts that arise between traditional values and the forces of modernity. By examining the fundamentalist theme in The Sirens of Baghdad, this research adds to current understanding of the intricacies of religious fanaticism and how it affects both people and society.

Narrative Collusion and Allegiance Justifying: A Cultural Critical Approach to The Dictator’s Last Night Novel by Yasmina Khadra

Yasmina Khadra’s novels adeptly navigate complex themes such as terrorism and revolution, employing a gripping narrative style that skillfully constructs a purposeful, creative storyline. This narrative technique is designed to accentuate the emotional dynamics and psychological transformations experienced by all participants throughout the depicted events. Commonly, Khadra interweaves a romantic subplot within his narratives, artfully blending reality with fiction. His novel, The Dictator’s Last Night, vividly recounts the confrontation faced by Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi shortly before his demise. In this portrayal, Khadra draws a subtle yet profound parallel between revolution, portrayed as a fringe act of defiance, and authority, seen as a central, dominant force. This juxtaposition reveals Khadra’s critical stance on revolutions; he views them as inherently unnatural acts that disrupt the transcendent balance of established centrism, regardless of the justification provided by their leaders. By delving into the depths of Gaddafi’s ordeal and the dispositions of the rebels, Khadra exposes the complex layers of loyalty and violent opposition, illustrating how the revolution strayed from its noble intentions towards a path marred by gruesome vengeance and malevolent retribution.

Interrogating the Algerian Folkloric Identity in Khadra’s What the Day Owes the Night

This paper is an attempt to explore Folkloric material in Yasmina Khadra’s What the Day Owes the Night, to reconsider folklore, not as a remnant of the past, but as an artistic vehicle to locate cultural belonging. It examines the different elements by which folklore shapes individual and collective identity in colonial Algerian literature. The novel of Yasmina Khadra represents material and spiritual folk constituents of the Algerian national and cultural identity during the French colonization, mainly the moral struggle of the protagonist between his Algerian cultural heritage and the French-acquired culture. The novel is rich in cultural, artistic, and folkloric elements of the Algerian individual and collective identity. It also exhibits the contrast between the local, and everyday French habits, causing a chasm between the two cultures the protagonist is struggling to bear and fill. This research indicates that the protagonist’s internal conflict reflects the larger struggle that nearly all Algerians went through during French colonization by imposing the colonial culture on their own. Research findings demonstrate that folklore is a popular material that springs out from recurrent situations of everyday life. Khadra’s What the Day Owes the Night expresses verbal art as academic parlance to encounter identity issues. Khadra effectively captures the essence of Algerian society and its diverse cultural fabric through vivid descriptions and storytelling, shedding light on the intricate nature of identity in a colonized nation.

Remembering the Colonial Past in Algerian Literature

ABSTRACT This article examines the ways in which past colonial figures, who emerged against the backdrop of the nineteenth-century conquest of North Africa, still resonate and are celebrated in contemporary Algerian Francophone and Arabophone literatures. It questions the wider implications of these celebrations for post-colonial societies, and in particular the place of nostalgia and the wish to distinguish between the iniquities of colonialism as a system on the one hand, and the fortuitous but productive encounters involving those who challenged it from within, on the other. By contextualising the contemporary productions of Malika Mokeddem and Said Khatibi, this article demonstrates how these authors celebrate the many ways in which the non-conformist colonial figure of Isabelle Eberhardt sought freedom and rebelled against power tropes – particularly through the recourse to male disguise, whilst simultaneously appropriating and domesticating the Sahara Desert, its cultures and its populations. This article also examines how Yasmina Khadra celebrates French authors like Roger Frison-Roche and prominent colonial figures such as Charles de Foucauld. These literary works appear as significant examples of memory across different cultural settings, informing the challenge to, and inheritance of, the colonial tropes. Unexpectedly, figures such as that of Eberhardt appear, in the eyes of Algerian authors, as valid examples to emulate, in order to celebrate, reach, or at least imagine, emancipation in the aftermath of Algerian independence. This ultimately reveals hitherto ignored continuity between the colonial past and the postcolonial present that has nurtured the emergence of hybrid identities.

Gender Dynamics, Space, and Identity Formation in Yasmina Khadra’s What the Day Owes the Night (2008, 2011)

Yasmina Khadra’s’ ‘Ce Que le Jour Doit à la Nuit’ (What the Day Owes the Night) is an Algerian best-selling novel originally written in French. Yasmina Khadra is the non de plume of the Algerian army officer, Mohammed Moulesshoul. Moulesshoul utilised a female pseudonym to avoid the inspections of his manuscripts by the army. The version I use in this article is a translation from French by Frank Wynne (2011). Yasmina Khadra discusses the human existence in a way that seeks to determine the purpose of all life beyond one’s social condition. In other words, Yasmina Khadra perceives life as a continuum of interpersonal and intrapersonal relations that possess a strong effect on the social subjects’ existence in the world. Also, being an Algerian drives Yasmina Khadra to concentrate on issues of identity, colonialism, the production, and circulation of particular social and cultural knowledge, along with the struggle of gender and political identification. Yasmina Khadra’s narrative is a manifestation of the struggle to produce a historic national culture and a narrative discourse free of the shackles of colonialist knowledge and mode of thought. This article uses CDA and thematic analysis to critically outline and investigate the gender dynamics and identity formation that characterise Khadra’s narrative discourse.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Tokoh Aku dalam Novel Asybahul Jahim Karya Yasmina Khadra Tinjauan Psikologi Sastra

The articel was conducted to analyze the forms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that my character experienced in Yasmina Khadra's novel Asybaḥul jaḥĪm. The study resulted in the conclusion first, that the character of I in Yasmina Khadra's novel Asybaḥul jaḥĪm underwent Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Second, through an analysis of the approach to literary psychology with Kaplan & Sadock theory, several important things have been found, among other things, there have been causes that led to the character I experienced PTSD in the novel, such as, Sulaiman's death, Haitem family events and insults to the family of my figures. Third, some characteristics of someone experiencing PTSD according to Kaplan and Sadock are found in the novel, among others, a) The Figure I see, hear, and even experience some events related to serious injury or death, as well as receiving threats to the physical integrity of himself or the person around him. b) The reaction of the character I involve fear and helplessness, c) The character I experience a recurring dream of the tragedy that inflicts suffering, etc. Fourth, there were found some attempts by my character to exit the PTSD he experienced, such as leaving Kafr Karam who was none other than his hometown, seeking new life in Baghdad and joining the resistance group.

The Psychology of Dictatorship: A Journey into Muammar Gaddafi’s Mind in Yasmina Khadra’s The Dictator’s Last Night

ABSTRACT This article anatomizes the depiction of the dictator’s mind-set and psyche in Yasmina Khadra’s The Dictator’s Last Night (2015). Using the first person, Khadra attempts to give an inside insight into the mind of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, one of the most colorful, controversial and complex figures of recent history. The selected novel broadens our understanding by offering a psychiatric diagnosis of the dictator. This paper thus explores how the author delves into the dictator’s mind mapping literary psychopathology of Gaddafi’s personality through realistic reconstructions. In other words, we attempt to explain how the dictator manifests the symptoms of one who is trapped in a destructive state of mind using the novel as a focal point and guide. The paper tries to put flesh on the bones of questions concerning Gaddafi’s mind-set and absolute power wedded to madness and megalomania as well as reflecting upon certain images and symbols utilized to show historically or in mythic form the hyperbolic figure of the dictator that forms the central theme in the novel. To make the journey inside the dictator’s mind possible, the article uses a psychoanalytic approach and refers to historical facts to back up the results.

Sur la mobilité des frontières de soi au profit du passage transfrontalier interlinguistique et sémiotique. Étude de cas : traduction et adaptation filmique du roman Ce que le jour doit à la nuit, de Yasmina Khadra

Abstract In this article, we briefly present the results of a multifaceted investigation of the book Ce que le jour doit à la nuit. We examine the effects produced on the novel by the transgression of multiple frontiers: identity, geographic, interlinguistic, translation, semiotic, etc. These are frontiers that both the writer, Yasmina Khadra, and her novel transgress. A necessary look at the circumstances in which the book was created will allow us to survey the types of frontier transgression: of the self, of the civilian and artistic identity, in order to concentrate on the crossing of interlinguistic frontiers (the translation into Romanian of the novel Ce que le jour doit à la nuit in this case), semiotic (its cinema adaptation and its subtitles).

Postcolonial Perspectives of Terrorism in John Updike’s Terrorist and Yasmina Khadra’s the Attack

This study examines the postcolonial concepts of centralization and peripherization as depicted in terrorist by john updike and the attack by yasmina khadra. It also seeks to establish aspects of convergence between the centre and periphery as brought out in the two texts. Most studies within postcolonial framework have interrogated the tension immanent in the relationship between the west and the east in the context of cultural, political and racial subjugation of the former against the latter. However, studies which tackle the phenomenon of terrorism fiction within the postcolonial framework are scanty. This study attempted to fill the gap by investigating the occidental and oriental aspects of terrorism in terrorist and the attack. It also sought to determine elements of convergence in the relationship between the east and the west. The objectives of the study were concerned with examining the occidental perspectives in terrorist and the oriental perspectives in the attack. A third objective sought to explore concurrent elements in the occident vs orient dichotomy. The exploration exposed how terrorist portrays elements of domination and hegemony personified in the occident and how the attack depicts instances of protest and resistance typified in the orient. Within the paradigm of postcolonialism, the study adopted orientalism as postulated by edward said to examine how a dominating framework, the colonizer, exercises power and oppression against the protest and resistance of the marginalized, the colonized. The ideas of homi bhabha and gayatri spivak were also used to investigate the nature of resistance performed by the oppressed. A review of literature showed that the dichotomy of the centre vs the periphery is evident in fictionalization of terrorism hence the rationale for this study. The study relied on qualitative research design. Analysis of content involved a reading of the two texts under study which were purposively sampled. Subsequently, the occident and orient relationship is shown to be belied with power imbalances that occasions tension and conflict. An integrative approach that investigated how the tenuous relationship between the west and east can nevertheless find concurrence was also performed. This study shows that aspects of domination and hegemony are predominant in the occident’s perception of the east and its consolidation of the centre. Further, discourse constitutes an integral cog of the western domination and imperialism. But the study also demonstrates that, the orient performs a mix of redemptive initiatives geared towards the resistance and contestation of the colonial discourse. Whereas the discordant nature of the occident vs orient relationship is rife with tension and incongruence, the study was still able to identify components of convergence which ultimately amalgamated the west vs east divide in the analysis of terrorist and the attack. The study concludes, the tendency of the west to ascribe unto itself power and authority of domination can be challenged and contested at various levels by the disempowered and marginalized east or the orient. This research is important because it will provide a literary perspective in the broader conversation that involves terrorism. The study will also ignite a broader understanding of the terrorism phenomenon within a postcolonial paradigm.

PERLAWANAN MASYARAKAT IRAK TERHADAP BARAT DALAM PERSPEKTIF NOVEL ASYBĀH AL-JAHĪM (TINJAUAN STRUKTURALISME GENETIK LUCIEN GOLDMANN)

<p><em>This study aims to look at the form of Iraqi society's resistance to the West from the perspective of Yasmina Khadra's novel </em>Asyba>h Al-Jah}i>m<em>. Asybah al-Jahim's novel is considered a form of literary reaction from the author to voice justice for the oppressed Iraqi people. This study uses a review of Lucien Goldmann's theory of genetic structuralism. There are several main ideas to find out how the approach works: human facts, collective/trans-individual subjects, and world views. The method used is dielectric. Then the material object in this study is the novel Asybah al-Jahim m which is also used as primary data. The secondary source of data is required to accommodate preliminary data. Secondary data supports data obtained from searches through books, journals, and internet media related to research. The results of this study indicate that the Iraqi people's resistance to the West in the perspective of the novel </em>Asyba>h Al-Jah}i>m<em> </em><em>is reflected through the author's world view. From this world view, it can be classified in two forms: natural resistance; both indirect matches.</em></p><p><em> </em></p><p><strong>Keywords:</strong> Resistance, Iraq, Asyba>h Al-Jah}i>m, Genetic-Structuralism.<em></em></p>

Randomness and Political Complexity in the Contemporary Arab Novel

This essay examines the concept of randomness in three novels by contemporary Arab novelists, employing chaos theory and complexity theory. The three novels are Lebanese Rabie Gaber's dystopian novel Beirutus: Underground City ( Beirutus: Madīna Taḥt al-Arḍ, 2005), Egyptian Ezzedine Choukri Fishere's realistic novel Exit ( Bāb al-Khurūj, 2012), and Algerian Yasmina Khadra's detective novel What are Monkeys Waiting for? ( Qu'attendent les singes, 2014). Although they belong to different genres, all three are speculative novels and present different forms of political-security complexity and chaos in the contemporary Arab world. They represent unpredictable, random events that both resonate with and anticipate forthcoming events and political changes in the Arab world. Exit, for instance, represents the unexpected downfall of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the return of the military rule after the 2011 revolution, and Beirutus the unexpected rubbish and environmental crisis in 2016 in Lebanon, while What are Monkeys Waiting for? anticipates the contemporary political turmoil in Algeria. Randomness and unpredictability in the three novels are used as a means of political projection and prediction, and as narrative strategies of literary activism against repressive realities and authoritarianism. By representing the unpredictable, Gaber, Fishere and Khadra implicitly incite resistance by warning of appalling forthcoming realities.

TRADITION OR MODERNITY: WHICH MODEL FOR THE ALGERIAN NOVEL?

The Algerian novel occupies an important place in the literary world of the French expression. Numerous are the Algerian writers passionned by this way of writing resulting from historical events between Algeria and France. The Algerian author is confused between his traditional society, his roots, his sociocultural environment and the modern one transmitted by the culture of the colon. The reports between tradition and modernity are in the core of the mystery of creation, the act of the creator, indeed, concentrates on heritages but he can always go towards their unforeseen transformations. With a more analytical look, we can state that between both notions, it exists convergent points, this may say that beyond appearances it is impossible to build a tight partition. The tangling of both concepts is revealed in the Algerian novels, for instance, in Kateb yacine, Mouloud Mammeri, Yasmina Khadra, Latifa Ben Mansour et Rachid Mimouni. This is why we have opted for this theme which aimed to: Situate the Algerian novel between these two dichotomies and how the Algerian author apprehends this repport? The present work is based on the study of technics which make the dichotony Tradition/Modernity opposed in time; a cyclicity through a literary creation.

A Postcolonial Analysis of Terrorism Rationalization in Yasmina Khadra’s The Attack

Employing the postcolonial paradigm, this paper explores the conduct of violence in a colonial condition and seeks to determine its rationality in The Attack. In colonial states, violence plays a critical role both in the furtherance and perpetuation of colonialism and the resistance of the same. Both the colonizer and the colonized assume some form of legitimacy in their violent acts. In an effort to delegitimize the resistance effort of the colonized, the colonizer often attempts to define and label the oppressed as terrorists griped in unjustified acts of violence. Through a qualitative research design, this study probes how the colonized attempt to rationalize their violence by resisting the cloak of a terrorist therefore assuming the pose of a resistance and freedom fighter. The paper argues that the dispossessed justify their violence as a path towards redemption from the oppressed condition of colonization.

La ville anonyme face à la mer : du mirage au métissage

Our current article talks about the geocritical analysis of the spaces of the anonymous city and the sea argued by the two Algerian authors: Mohamed Dib through his novel <em>Cours sur la rive sauvage</em> and Yasmina Khadra in <em>L'Olympe des infortunes</em>. These two writers highlight the binary dynamics of the anonymous city and the sea. The fusion of these two spaces creates mirages revealing the intermingling of their writings and their society. This textual hybridization reveals a harmful criticism of the metropolis and the era of globalization.

Le réel à l’épreuve de la fiction dans « Khalil » de Yasmina Khadra

<p class="Corps">In <em>Khalil</em>, Yasmina Khadra paints a realistic portrait of a terrorist. This novel written in 2018 and developed from a real fact, blurs the spaces of reality and fiction to reveal the apparently unavowable thoughts of a jihadist. It is this detour strategy that this article will seek to clarify. It will be a question of studying how Yasmina Khadra organizes a scrambling of these two worlds, the fictional space and the realistic space, located at the edge of each other, to make them interact, confront each other but also to question.</p>

Djihadisme et maïeutique. Les Écrivains français d’origine maghrébine face au 13 novembre

Among the wide range of publications about the 13 November 2015 attacks on French soil, four novels, by Rachid Benzine, Dounia Bouzar, Fouad Laroui, and Yasmina Khadra opted to focus on the Jihadist’s point of view. Being French writers born in North Africa or of North-African descent, as well as Muslims committed against Islamism, they intend to propose more accurate interpretations of the Jihadist phenomenon. They reject the cultural explanation that draws a continuum between Islam and Jihadism, as well as the (postcolonial) socio-economical one: they focus instead on individual or geopolitical explanations. More interestingly, despite or because three of them are also scholars, they reassess the legitimacy of literature to participate in the socio-political debates, considering it as more politically efficient than scholarly argumentations, especially for younger audiences. Hence, they develop what I call maieutic novels, i.e. didactic novels that avoid the pitfalls of committed literature by making use of an oriented dialogism: the reader disturbingly explores the opposite rationales of jihadi and anti-Islamist worldviews, before experiencing the counter-exemplary path chosen by the Jihadist.

Risk Management as a Method of Translation Criticism

Risk management has been occupying a central place in Translation Studies in recent years. Perceiving the Source Product as a material with a number of risks moving from credibility to uncertainty to communicative ones, risk management focuses on the way the translator deals with these different risks. It has first been suggested by Anthony Pym in the field of professional translation. Some studies tried to apply this approach to translation teaching, interpreting training, and translation assessment. Hence, the present study aims at exploring risk management in the literary translation area. It tends to answer the following question: 'how can risk management approach be applied in assessing and analyzing literary translation?' The research opens with a theoretical introduction tackling the concept of risk management, the different kinds of risks, strategies of dealing with risks as well as a literature review of literary translation. Then, it sheds light on Yasmina Khadra’s translated novels (English and Arabic versions) revealing risks and the various strategies adopted by translators. Methodically, the paper adopts a qualitative method taking each example aside, analyzing it from a communicative point of view and suggesting potential alternatives.

Mise en Scène de la Violence et Enjeux Intertextuels dans À Quoi Rêvent les loups de Yasmina Khadra

Violence Staging and Intertextual Issues in “What do Wolves Dream About” of Yasmina Khadra
 In this article, we propose to study an aspect of writing of Yasmina Khadra, which seems to structure the writing of violence in his novel What do wolves dream about. Because violence seems to have been, a central stake in Algerian literary production in the 90's. Its treatment has fascinated many authors of the time, which, besides the cruelty of the situations they present, try with a mechanism of mimesis, to reconcile language as the only tool to the conditions they describe. In this perspective, inherent strategies to the writing itself, have to be brought out in the elaboration of this research. So, it is for us to do a work on the language, on the way of saying and writing this tragedy, which hit Algeria during the 90's. In fact, the novel of Y. Khadra exposes various shots of the outbreak of violence that marked the last decade in Algeria.