Le jeu de l'amour et du pouvoir: The quest for an elusive identity through intermarriage in eight francophone novels

Magalie Dorothee Hanquier-Baroghel, Purdue University

Abstract

"Le Jeu de l'amour et du pouvoir: The Quest for an Elusive Identity through Intermarriage in Eight Francophone Novels" examines the various functionings of the motif of intermarriage in Mariama Ba's Un Chant ecarlate, Maryse Conde's Heremakhonon, Marie-Claire Blais' Une Liaison parisienne, Abdelkebir Khatibi's Amour bilingue, Rene Maran's Un Homme pareil aux autres. Remy Medou Mvomo's Mon Amour en noir et blanc, Albert Memmi's Agar, and Pham Duy Khiem's Nam et Sylvie. Drawing from the work of Michel Beaujour (Miroirs d'encre), argues that these novels with seemingly autobiographical overtones are really self-portraits which find their most appropriate form in the dialogic structure of the genre of the novel, as defined by Bakhtin. Whether written in a colonial or post-colonial context, these novels reflect the vicissitudes of multicultural minds. The motif of the mixed union constitutes a proteiform and powerful literary tool to explore the specifics of these multicultural identities as it becomes a metaphor, an experimental design, a cathartic experience, or an index of an ideological debate. The first chapter defines the nature of the mixitude of each union against twentieth century sociological approaches to the topic. Chapter two compares the apparently pessimistic views of Memmi and Pham Duy Khiem, concluding that the metaphoric aspects of their novels situate the latter's in a grudgingly nostalgic perspective while the former uses it in a Gidian gesture to escape the temptations of unhealthy dependences and starts to articulate his theory about dependence in general. The third chapter reflects on the striking similarities between Maran and Medou Mvomo's concerns and situations as they appear in these novels despite the fact that the two have written thirty years apart from each other and don't share the same background. The fourth explores how two female authors, Ba and Conde try to defy dominant male ideologies, and in particular distorted conceptions of negritude, that screen the true nature of relations between couples. Finally, the fifth chapter observes how Khatibi and Blais transpose the identity question onto the purely literary level, looking for a new definition of the self springing from the page itself. The conclusion establishes a parallel between the achievement of these francophone novels and the Freudian novel as described by Michel de Certeau.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Broden, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Romance literature|Comparative literature|Literature

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