Reading the Image of the French Other Between the Negative and Positive Patterns in the Algerian Novel (Muammar Hajij’s Novels are an Example)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

• Dana Talebpour ¹
• salah Najmuddin Amin Majid ²

¹ PhD Graduated in Arabic Language and Literature, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

² Lecturer Department of Arabic Language and Literature, Kirkuk University, Kirkuk, Iraq.

10.22067/jallv16.i1.2402-1385

Abstract

The dualism of the ego and the other is one of the most important topics of comparative literature, as this dialectical dualism refers mostly to class and civilizational conflict. To define the concept of the ego, there must be an ego/central ego through which we measure that other and recognize him. The other means another person or a different group. The other is the being that is different from the ego, and it is a relative and moving concept, because the other is only determined by comparison to a central point, which is the ego. The other is a reflection of the ego, and the Algerian novel is filled with the image of the French other, who remained stuck in the minds of the Algerians and was embodied in their writings despite independence. Therefore, this attempt seeks, through the descriptive-analytical approach, to study the most important things that Muammar Hojeij adopted in his depiction of the French other in his novels and to highlight the patterns of this other between negativity and positivity through his depiction of French characters. The results indicate that Hajej relied in his portrayal of the French other on several conflicts: including the civilizational conflict existing between the West and the East, the conflict existing between the Algerian and French identity, which colonialism is trying to erase, and the existing conflict between French writers who are passionate about France’s interests and the rights of their people, who are enthusiastic about the liberation of Algeria, and who oppose the crimes of French colonialism. The Frenchman and the images of the French other in the novels are of two types: negative and positive. The image of the French officer has a superior look and is characterized by violence and cruelty, and an image characterized by pity for the prisoners and sympathy for them. The same goes for the image of the professor, which is of two types: negative. It tries to destroy everything related to the Algerian Islamic identity, Algerian culture, and positivity, as it supports all movements at the level of defending Algerian freedom and independence, as well as with regard to the image of the writer, as Camus looks down on Algeria. Algeria’s civilization, according to Camus, is what the Romans left behind and backwardness is all that is attached. With the Arabs and their faces, while Sartre, in the same novel, defends the Algerian cause with all his might, exposes the crimes of French colonialism, and denounces the silence on them.

Keywords

• Comparative literature
• the Algerian novel
• the French other
• the ego
• Muammar Hajij

Main Subjects

• Stylistics

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The Holy Quran                                                                                                      

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