Literature of the Maghreb and Mashreq: Francophone Writers from the Arab World

Catalog description

This class examines the works of modern and contemporary Francophone writers from the Arab World. We seek to look at how these authors approach the task of writing between many languages and cultures as they experience the limitation and liberating aspects of bilingualism and explore the questions of national and cultural belonging, dominant narratives of history, migration and exile. The reading list includes works from the Mashreq (Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria), such as Albert Cossery, Amin Maalouf, and Joyce Mansour, the Maghreb, (Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco), such Jacques Derrida, Abdelkebir Khatibi, Assia Djebar, and Tahar ben Jelloun. The class is taught in English.