UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Writing National Identity: Postmemory in Contemporary France Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7nn793jd Author Piser, Celine Publication Date 2014 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Writing National Identity: Postmemory in Contemporary France By Celine Piser A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature and the Designated Emphasis in Jewish Studies in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Robert Alter, Chair Professor Karl Britto Professor Debarati Sanyal Professor Monique Balbuena Spring 2014 Writing National Identity: Postmemory in Contemporary France Copyright 2014 By Celine Piser Abstract Writing National Identity: Postmemory in Contemporary France By Celine Piser Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature Designated Emphasis in Jewish Studies University of California, Berkeley Professor Robert Alter, Chair This dissertation considers the recent wave of memoir-style fiction by French Jewish authors of Ottoman and North African origin in light of current debates on immigration and French national identity. These authors were raised by immigrant parents who, eager to assimilate into French society, did not focus on transmitting their heritage to subsequent generations. However, their children later attempted to reclaim their lost heritage as adults through literature that revisited their parents’ immigration stories, culture, and Judeo-Spanish language. Through the narrative reconstruction of the past, these authors explore how hybrid identity functions within contemporary French society and historiography as an alternative form of French identity. By writing the Judeo-French experience into French literature and history, they revise the nationalist view of French identity to allow for colonial and non- European influences. Through this case study, this project argues that France’s new multicultural demographics break down the barrier between “French” and “Francophone” and redefine what it means to be a French national. This not only allows both immigrants in France and French speakers in other countries to claim French culture as their own, but also reconceptualizes French culture to include foreign linguistic, cultural, and national elements. The first two chapters analyze the experience of Mediterranean Jewish immigrants in Paris in the early- to mid-twentieth century. My archival research challenges assumptions about immigrant assimilation, arguing that some immigrants developed a hybrid identity that would allow them to integrate into French society without denying their heritage. Moreover, by writing their stories into French literature, they 1 legitimized their claim to French’s cultural capital. My analysis of this work thus urges the revaluation of the Francophone and Jewish literary canons. The following two chapters turn to second-generation Jewish immigrant authors who, though raised disconnected from their ancestral pasts, attempt to reconstruct their parents’ immigration narratives in order to gain access to their lost heritages. I analyze this move by reconceptualizing Marianne Hirsch’s theory of postmemory, a term that describes the relationship of the second generation to the previous generation’s trauma. Through narrative techniques of temporal conflation and multilingualism, these authors rethink their previously monocultural French identities, allowing them to be in conversation with their foreign heritages even as they identify as French nationals. By producing linguistically and culturally bilingual texts, these authors are attempting to alter the current, monocultural conception of French national identity to include the cultural and linguistic traditions of France’s postcolonial, post-immigration population. Working simultaneously in minor and major languages, they redefine French identity as multilingual and global, not just for immigrants but also for the dominant culture. The conclusion reconsiders the texts discussed in the dissertation through the lens of contemporary debates in France on immigration and national identity, analyzing the politics of France’s controversial new immigration museum to show the relevance of these French-Sephardic literary voices to current issues of French identity and culture. While French national identity has long been based on the idea of a shared past, France’s colonial legacy and diverse demographics prove that this past in fact encompasses multiple cultures, languages, and ancestral heritages. By redefining the parameters of French national identity, France’s political and cultural policies can better reflect and address its diverse population. 2 For Savta, who started it all i Table of Contents Dedication i Table of Contents ii Acknowledgements iii Introduction iv Chapter One 1 Reexamining the “Réveil juif”: Ottoman Immigrants in Paris Chapter Two 42 Fictional Genealogies: Writing the Jewish Maghreb Chapter Three 67 “Ces lieux imaginaires”: Postmemory and Temporal Conflation Chapter Four 108 “My madre wasn’t a mère”: Multilingual Identities and Untranslatability Conclusion 155 From Sephardic to French: Redefining National Identity Works Cited 173 ii Acknowledgements This dissertation has come to be only with the inspiration and support of my community. My deepest gratitude goes to Esther Levy, for the language and food that led me here; to Chana Kronfeld, who encouraged my academic pursuit; and to Jesse Miller, Aviva Levy-Piser, and Steven Piser, for their unending support. Thank you, Karina Piser, for helping me keep things in perspective. I am indebted to the professors who have helped shape my work during the research and writing process. My advisor Robert Alter has offered gentle guidance and showed confidence in my work; Karl Britto has always lent his sharp and exhaustive eye; Debarati Sanyal has led me to excellent critical sources; and Monique Balbuena has shared my love of an obscure literature. The university’s academic advisors play a crucial, though at times hidden, role in students’ lives. I would like to thank Victoria Yost, who first inspired me to pursue Comparative Literature, a discipline that provides a home for the most disparate interests. As a graduate student, I straddled multiple departments. Both Erica Citret Roberts and Sandy Richmond have been instrumental in smoothing my course, whether in Comparative Literature or Jewish Studies. Outside the university, Eliyah Arnon has always helped with all my paper-related emergencies. These people have gone above and beyond, and for that I am eternally grateful. Despite this familial and professional support, I’m not sure where this dissertation would be without my friends’ and colleagues’ unending encouragement, expertise, editing, and entertainment. Thank you Maria Vendetti, Livi Yoshioka-Maxwell, Adeline Tran, Suzanne Scala, Maia Beyler-Noily, Anna Skrzypczynska, Jonathon Repinecz, Maya Smith, Travis Wilds, Kfir Cohen, Karla Nielsen, and Juan Caballero. The best parts of this work reflect your help. And thank you, Milana Levy Miller, for the final push. iii Introduction This dissertation rethinks French national identity through the lens of Jewish immigrant and post-immigrant literature. I argue that certain first-generation French Jewish authors mobilize the immigration narratives of the previous generation in order to contest French national identity. Unable to access a heritage lost to assimilation, they engage in a partial reconstruction of their ancestral culture and language through French literature. By looking primarily at French authors of Sephardic (Judeo-Spanish) and North African origin, this project illuminates a previously unexplored area of Judeo-French literary history. The analysis calls into question the cultural and linguistic structures that determine French literary historiography and influence French identity. Ultimately, the authors studied here redefine what it means to be French to allow for the fragmented identity created by colonialism and immigration. Through this case study, this dissertation argues that France’s new multicultural demographics break down the barrier between “French” and “Francophone” and redefine what it means to be a French national. This not only allows both immigrants in France and French speakers in other countries to claim French culture as their own, but reconceptualizes French culture to include foreign linguistic, cultural, and national aspects. The immigrant experience is a key issue in French literature and contemporary culture and politics, and this project addresses in a new way how literature and language work as instruments of political change in French society. Long before postcolonial waves of immigration spurred debates on race, language, and culture in national identity, European society gave birth to the concept of a continuous, cohesive expression of nationhood. This early nationalism engendered what Benedict Anderson has described as “imagined political communit[ies]” (Anderson 6). Imagining these communities as homogenous entities was essential to the concept of nationalism; Anderson argues that “regardless of the actual inequality and exploitation that may prevail in each [community], the nation is always conceived as a deep, horizontal comradeship” that erases any heterogeneity (7). One of the main tools of homogenization