Abstract
Algérienne, Louisette Ighilahriz's autobiography, came out in 2001 and was taken as the definitive testimony on tortures perpetrated by the French paratroopers during the Algerian War of Independence. It is argued here that such a reading is accurate, but reductive, as it ignores the subtlety of an autobiographical text with two "authors", inscribing a precise type of readers, and built on a synecdoche closely linking the female body to the national body. Naming the book Algérienne expresses the ex-fellagha's realization that the individual's trauma reproduces the collective trauma, one that is even more difficult to say and hear. By its "ethical architecture" the narrative hopes to evoke an empathic reception from its readership, essentially French people, without glossing over the violence that Ighilahriz and her country suffered, and their consequences, such as the so called second war of Algeria.
| Translated title of the contribution | The autobiography of Louisette Ighilahriz or the biography of a tortured nation |
|---|---|
| Original language | French |
| Journal | Expressions Maghrebines |
| Volume | 10 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 2011 |
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L'autobiographie de Louisette Ighilahriz ou la biographie d'une nation torturée. / Jaccomard, Hélène.
In: Expressions Maghrebines, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2011.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article
TY - JOUR
T1 - L'autobiographie de Louisette Ighilahriz ou la biographie d'une nation torturée
AU - Jaccomard, Hélène
PY - 2011
Y1 - 2011
N2 - Algérienne, Louisette Ighilahriz's autobiography, came out in 2001 and was taken as the definitive testimony on tortures perpetrated by the French paratroopers during the Algerian War of Independence. It is argued here that such a reading is accurate, but reductive, as it ignores the subtlety of an autobiographical text with two "authors", inscribing a precise type of readers, and built on a synecdoche closely linking the female body to the national body. Naming the book Algérienne expresses the ex-fellagha's realization that the individual's trauma reproduces the collective trauma, one that is even more difficult to say and hear. By its "ethical architecture" the narrative hopes to evoke an empathic reception from its readership, essentially French people, without glossing over the violence that Ighilahriz and her country suffered, and their consequences, such as the so called second war of Algeria.
AB - Algérienne, Louisette Ighilahriz's autobiography, came out in 2001 and was taken as the definitive testimony on tortures perpetrated by the French paratroopers during the Algerian War of Independence. It is argued here that such a reading is accurate, but reductive, as it ignores the subtlety of an autobiographical text with two "authors", inscribing a precise type of readers, and built on a synecdoche closely linking the female body to the national body. Naming the book Algérienne expresses the ex-fellagha's realization that the individual's trauma reproduces the collective trauma, one that is even more difficult to say and hear. By its "ethical architecture" the narrative hopes to evoke an empathic reception from its readership, essentially French people, without glossing over the violence that Ighilahriz and her country suffered, and their consequences, such as the so called second war of Algeria.
KW - Algerian war
KW - Female body
KW - Ighilahriz
KW - Testimony
KW - Torture
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=79960484395&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Review article
VL - 10
JO - Expressions Maghrebines
JF - Expressions Maghrebines
SN - 1540-0085
IS - 1
ER -