Reinventing Community: Identity and Difference in Late Twentieth-century Philosophy and Literature in French

247 Pages·2004·14.331 MB·English

by  Jane Hiddlestone

REINVENTING COMMUNlTY
IDENIITY AND !)IHTRENCE IN LAIE TWFNTlETH-CrNTURY
PHILOSOPHY AND LlTFRATURE IN FRENCH
L1:C; FN DA. f(HlIlded in 1 <)<)) by the European HUl11anities Research Centre
of the University of (hf(mL is no\\' a joint il11print of the Modern
H Lll1lanities Research Association and fVbney Pllblishing. Titles rallge fi·()]l1
l11edie\'al te"ts to cOlltemporary cillema alld [(mn a widely comparative
\'ie\\' orthe 1l1Odern hUl11anitics. inclllding \\'orks on Arabic. Catalan. English.
French, (;crman, Greek, Italian, Portllgllcse. R.ussian. Spanish. and Yiddish
Iitcrature. An Editorial Board of distinguished academic specialists \vorb in
lolbboration \vith lcading schobrly bodies such as the Society f()r Frcllch
Stlldies and the l~ritish Comparatin.' Literature Associatioll,
The Modern HUl11anities I<-escarch Association (MHHA) encourages alld
promotes advanccd study and research in the fjeld of the modern hUl11anitil's,
especially modern European and literature, including
and also cinema, It also ai ms to break dO\vn the barriers between scholars
in diHèrent disciplilles and to maimain thc llllity of hum<lnistic
scholarship in the Etel' of illcrcasing specialization. The Association fulfils this
purpose primarily the publication of jourllals, bibliographies,
mOllographs and other aids to research,
Publishing is one of the fe\\' Bricish academic
pllbbhers. FOllllded in 1 ()OO, the company has ottlces both in the UK, in
Lel'cls and London, ~lIld in l'-Jorth /\mericl, ill Boston, SinCl' 1 (J..1.)
has \vorked \\ith lcarnl'd societies. their editors, authors.
and 111cl1lbl'rs, in publishing ~lCldl'l1lic books and jOl1rIuls to the
traditional sClI1dards of l11atl'rials and productio!l,
Cftc/fmi/III
Professor Martin McLaughlin. Magdalen College, Chfèmi
Professor Malcolm Cook, University of Exeter (French)
Professor Colin Davis, University of Wanvick
(Modern Literature, Film and Them'y)
Professor Robin Fiddian, Wadham College, Oxfè)rd (Spanish)
Profèssor Marian Hobson jeanneret,
Queen Mary University of London (French)
Professor Catriona Kelly, New Collegc, Oxf()J'd (Russiall)
Protèssor Martin Maidcn. Trinity College. Oxford (Linguistics)
Proft'ssor Peter Matthews, St John's College. Cambridge (Linguistics)
I)r Stephen Parkinson, Linacre College, Oxfc)J'li (porLuguese)
Profèssor Ritchie Robertson, St John's College, Oxf(wd (German)
Protèssor David Robey, University of Reading (ltalian)
Professor Lesley Sharpe, University of Exeter (German)
Professor David Shepherd, University of SheffIeld (Rl1ssian)
Proft'ssor Alison Sinclair, Clare College, Cambridge (Spanish)
Profèssor 1) avid Treece, London (Portl1guese)
Professor Zancani, Galliol Oxfèm:l (Itabll)
Edit(l!
Graham Nelson
Oxf()rd ()\. 1 2.11. UK

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JANE HIDDLESTON
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1I l [roducti 011
1 The 1) ccOl1structiol1 of C0I111lll1nit\' 10
.2 C0111111unities of Di r1èrcll ce -lJ)
Thc Identity of the French Language ~lI1d the Language of
Frcnch Idcntitv ~-1-
-1- Cultural Oppositions in 'First-Gcneratiol1' Immigrant Literature 1 1-1-
Leïla Sebbar bet\\"ecn E"ilc and Polyphony 1 :\0
() Resistance and SulwtTsion in 'Beur' Litcratl!rc 17()
Conclusion .2 13
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1 am indebted to the Humanities Research Centre at the University
of Warwick. and also to the Department of French Studies. f()r their
generous hnancial support for this project. 1 should also like to thank
the Master and Fellows of Christ's College, Cambridge, rôr awarding
me the Research Fellowship that allowed me to complete the project,
and fe)r providing fùrther hclp with publication costs. The Arts and
H u11lanities Research Board oHèred me a studentship tl)r the pre
paration of the thesis upon which the text is based. Both the AHRB
and Christ's provided travel grants tl)!" numerous trips to Paris, where
a substantial part of the research was undertaken.
1 am grateflll to the editors of lVotrillyJlillll Fr('!lcl! Studies (volume
+3 2004) tl)r permission to reprint Illy article 'The Identity of the
French Language and the Language of French Identity'. The editors of
the jOlfrIlol (!( ROl/li1llCC SrI/dies (volume 3/ l, 2003) have perl11itted the
reuse of"hort extracts tl'OI1l 11ly article 'Cultural Me1110ry and A111J1esia:
The War and "Second-Generation" Immigrant Licerature in
also to )avies Publishers in Aurora,
'>t'Ctiol1s ti'0111 my t'ssay
tinal \'ersion of this work has bendircd
of a l1umber of readers and advisors. Abm'e aIL am
to tl1t' supervisor of my thesis. Nicho}a-; Harri<;Ol1. f()r 111'; attentive
and COl11l1lt'l1ts, as weil as for his remarkablc
support. Colin D~1Vh and Hall\\~lrd \vert'
\\,hose probing questiom and
to col1t're alld furthn mUllCt',
tn ~1l1011V1ll0US l'eader whost' .',,"')<'r111.
mc to con<;Hkr manv of thc scction"
111 grcat\..T and to Malcolm BO\\'lt'. \\,ho has abo becl1 aIl
x ACKN()WLlDClivlINTS
Î11\'alllablc, cncouragÏng ach·j-;er on this projcct. Azzcdinc Haddour
and Suzannc RaÏtt prcwjdcd hclptld and perccptivc fccdback on carly
drafi::-; of thc projcct. Lc'fla Sebbar ~111d AZOllZ Begag \\'erc kind
cllough to allmv mc to intcrvic\\ thcm; 1 am gratdid to both fc)r thcir
thoughts and ft)r thcir timc.
I shollid likc to thank thc participant-; in variom discmsion group),
in particular Tim Mathc\\s\ graduatc scminar at Univcrsity Collcgc
London and the Modern Frcnch Rc)carch Scminar at CambrIdgc, fé)r
providing a lively cnVir01ll1lent f(w cxperimellting with idcas. 1 gaincd
illSights fi'OI11 a n1ll11ber of colleagues and fJ'iends throughout thc
timc of thc book's prcparation: Carl Knappett, Andy IVlcrrills, Emily
Tomlinson, France.<;ca Nicholson, Catherinc HowelL Alex Paseau,
Abigail Pogson, lan Jamcs, Ingrid Wasscnaar, Jonathan Brown,
Jonathan Carr-Wcst. Finally, 1 am ill1l11enscly gratdid f()r the lovc
and support of my Llther and sisters. 1 dcdicatc thc book to thc
mC1l10ry of my mothcr.
Warwick, Septembcr 200-1- J. H.