La représentation des français dans le roman intitulé La Maison de lumière de Nourredine Saadi
L’imagologie qui émerge comme sous-discipline des études de littérature comparée et qui analyse des représentations de l’étranger dans des œuvres littéraires suscite un grand intérêt dans le monde littéraire. Pour cette raison, de nombreux livres et articles sont écrits à la fois sur l’imagologie et sur l’image d’un group, d’une société ou d’une nation. L’une des sociétés en question sur laquelle sont menées des études imagologiques est celle des Français. Il ne fait aucun doute qu’il existe de nombreuses images des Français qui ont profondément marqué des sociétés à travers l’histoire et que ces images se reflètent également dans des œuvres littéraires. Les français qui ont dominé l’Algérie entre 1830 et 1962 ont laissé de nombreuses images positives et négatives dans la conscience collective du peuple algérien. Dans ce contexte, ce présent travail vise à révéler les traces et les représentations des Français dans le roman intitulé La Maison de lumière de Nourredine Saadi qui est l’un des écrivains les plus connus de la littérature algérienne francophone. L’objectif de ce travail est aussi de montrer les représentations des Français, en d’autres termes, la perception de l’Autre et de sa culture dans le contexte imagologique de Daniel-Henri Pageaux, spécialiste de littérature comparée.
Representation of the French in Nourredine Saadi’s novel La Maison de lumière
Imagology, which emerges as a sub-branch of comparative literature and analyses the representations of the foreigner in literary works, arouses great interest in the literary world. For this reason, many books and articles have been written both on imagology and on the imagery of a group, a society or a nation. One of the societies in question on which imagological studies are carried out is that of the French. There is no doubt that there are many imageries concerning the French, who have deeply affected various societies throughout history, and these imageries are reflected in the literary works as well. The French, who dominated Algeria between 1830-1962, left many positive and negative imageries in the collective memory of the Algerian people. In this context, the present study aims to investigate the traces and the representations of French in the novel entitled La Maison de lumière of Nourredine Saadi, who is one of the best-known writers of Francophone Algerian literature. This study further aims to examine Saadi’s representations of the French (in other words, the perception and culture of the Other) in the context of the imagological approach of Daniel-Henri Pageaux, specialist in comparative literature.
Imagology, which was first used in 1962 by Oliver Brachfeld in his article entitled “Note sur l’imagologie ethnique”, shortly thereafter began to be applied to literary studies by Belgian comparatist Hugo Dyserinck. After this, the first studies in this field appeared and the imagology spread first in Europe and then in other countries. In time, imagology aroused great interest in the literary world and many researchers and specialists turned to this discipline.
Imagology creates an interdisciplinary field of research by associating with many disciplines and is defined in different ways by researchers and specialists. It is generally defined as a science which aims to reveal the imageries of the foreigner in literary works. In other words, it deals with the subject of the Other and focuses on the image of the foreigner.
Daniel-Henri Pageaux, a specialist in comparative literature, writes on imagology in his book entitled La littérature générale et comparée, published by Armand Colin in 1994. In this book, Pageaux presents a method that consists of three levels for studying the imageries of the Other: the word, the hierarchical relationship, and the scenario. The present work aims to examine the representations of French in the novel entitled La Maison de lumière by Nourredine Saadi in the context of the imagological approach of Daniel-Henri Pageaux.
Nourredine Saadi, one of the best-known writers of Francophone Algerian literature, describes historical facts fictitiously in his novel. While telling the story of a house built in Algiers, Saadi chronologically describes the change of Algeria from the time of the Ottoman Empire until the early nineties. He narrates the period of Hussein Dey, the appearance of French settlers in Algeria, their sovereignty for 132 years, the Algerian war of independence and the departure of the French. In addition, he explicates the happiness, sorrows, sufferings and mourning of the Algerian people. In this context, it is possible to say that Saadi benefits from the collective memory of the Algerian people and presents the historical, sociological and political description of his country in his novel.
Since La Maison de lumière narrates a period of around two centuries, the novel encounters positive and negative imageries from many different societies. However, in this work, only French imageries are mentioned. Investigation of Saadi’s representation of the French (or the perception of the Other) in the context of Pageux’s imagological approach reveals many imageries of the Other. Using both historical and fictional characters, Saadi conveys the imageries of the French in the eyes of himself and wider Algerian society. His book itself further shows the culture of the Other to his readers, as it contains many imageries of French culture.
The analyses based on the perception and culture of the Other in this work show that Saadi defines the French by using both positive and negative imageries. In other words, the French, or the Other, have both positive and negative imageries in the collective memory of the Algerians. The examples reveal that there is a close relationship between the Algerian people and the French. Some Algerian characters really like the French, as they have lived together for many years. On the other hand, in some cases, other Algerian characters aren’t happy to live with the French because they think that the French have taken control of their country. As a result, it is clear that the French, with both positive and negative imageries in the eyes of the Algerians, deeply affected the Algerian people and left their traces in the country during the period they lived together.
