UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Qur'anic Invocations: Narrative Temporalities in Twentieth Century Maghrebi Literature Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/351522q0 Author El Shakry, Hoda Publication Date 2012 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Qur!anic Invocations: Narrative Temporalities in Twentieth Century Maghrebi Literature A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Satisfaction of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy In Comparative Literature by Hoda El Shakry 2012 © Copyright by Hoda El Shakry 2012 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Qur!anic Invocations: Narrative Temporalities in Twentieth Century Maghrebi Literature by Hoda El Shakry Doctor of Philosophy in Comparative Literature University of California, Los Angeles, 2012 Professor Gil Hochberg, Co-Chair Professor Nouri Gana, Co-Chair Qur!anic Invocations: Narrative Temporalities in Twentieth Century Maghrebi Literature investigates the dialogic relationship between literary and theological discourse in modern Arabophone and Francophone literature of the Maghreb. The novels of al-!"hir Wa##"r, Assia Djebar, Driss Chraïbi and Ma$m%d al-Mas’ad& critically explore the complex colonial histories and conflicted articulations of national identity, language and literature in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. While the 130-year French imperial presence in the region left an indelible cultural and linguistic imprint on the Maghreb, nationalist attempts at homogenizing these countries under a shared Arab and Islamic heritage were equally divisive. This dissertation examines the intersecting discourses of nationalism, modernity and postcolonialism in fiction of the late colonial and post-independence period between 1945 and 1985. I posit that these novels engage with Islamic Thought in order to complicate, nuance or challenge the temporality of these grand ii historical narratives. In the process, however, they trouble the boundary between ‘religious’ and ‘secular’ discourses. In large part, this confluence reflects the very notion of Adab that underwrites both religious and literary discourse in the Arab literary tradition. A concept that historically denoted the moral dimensions of individual and social conduct in the Islamic sciences, Adab also signifies the intellectual pursuit of knowledge and more currently, the corpus of belle lettres. For while they employ Qur!anic symbology, imagery and motifs, these texts also intervene into debates on the apostolic tradition of hadith, Islamic exegesis, history and jurisprudence. Further, they reimagine the novel in dialogue with and opposition to Arabic and French literary as well as historical discourses. These elements are reflected in the heteroglossic and polyphonic structure of these texts, which undermines historical teleologies and myths of origins. My first chapter, “Revolutionary Eschatology: Islam and the End of Time in Wa##"r’s al-Zilz!l” [The Earthquake, 1974], analyzes Wa##"r’s mobilization of eschatological imagery to question the ideological underpinnings of Algerian nationalist discourse. I explore al-Zilzal’s! critical engagement with the rhetoric of Arabism and Islamism in post-revolutionary state politics. In my second chapter, “Heterodoxies of History: Algerian National Identity in Djebar’s L'Amour, la fantasia” [Fantasia: An Algerian Cavalcade, 1985], I investigate the interweaving of the French colonial occupation and settlement of Algeria with the Arabo-Islamic conquest of the region in the seventh century. I posit that the novel’s polyphonic structure and resistance to a single authoritative voice challenges religious, ethnic and linguistic narratives of origins, as well as the politics of transmission and interpretation in Islam. The third chapter, “The Thin Line of Imperialism: Parsing the Qur!an in Chraïbi’s Le passé simple” [The Simple Past, 1954], iii examines the controversial representation of French imperialism and Islamic patriarchy as mutually imbricated ideologies. I argue that Chraïbi offers an alternative mode of historical and literary temporality in the motifs of the passé simple and la ligne mince. My final chapter, “The Poetic Landscape of Islamic Thought: Creation and Existence in al-Mas"ad&’s Mawlid al-Nisy!n” [The Genesis of Forgetfulness, 1945], explores the novel’s fusion of Sufism, Existentialism, Islamic Thought and Arabic literary discourse. Al-Mas"ad&’s ethical literary project, I suggest, reads artistic representation as a mode of creation. iv The dissertation of Hoda El Shakry is approved. Lia Brozgal Aamir Mufti Gil Hochberg, Committee Co-Chair Nouri Gana, Committee Co-Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2012 v TABLE OF CONTENTS Note on Translation and Transliteration _____________________________________vii Acknowledgments _______________________________________________________viii Curriculum Vitae ________________________________________________________xii 0. Introduction ___________________________________________________________1 1. Revolutionary Eschatology: Islam and the End of Time in Wa##"r’s al-Zilz!l _______________________________15 2. Heterodoxies of History: Algerian National Identity in Djebar’s L'Amour, la fantasia _____________________45 3. The Thin Line of Imperialism: Parsing Islam in Chraïbi’s Le passé simple ___________________________________76 4. The Poetic Landscape of Islamic Thought: Creation and Existence in al-Mas"adi’s Mawlid al-Nisyan ______________________113 5. Conclusion __________________________________________________________ 147 Bibliography ___________________________________________________________ 151 vi NOTE ON TRANSLATION & TRANSLITERATION Unless otherwise indicated, all translations from Arabic and French are my own. When available, I have used existing translations into English, but made modifications that are indicated in the appropriate footnotes. Arabic words and names have been transliterated into the Latin alphabet using a modified system based on the International Journal of Middle East Studies (IJMES). For words ending in the letter # for example, I have opted to include the final ‘h.’ Arabic names of authors who publish in French or English (such as Driss Chraïbi or Assia Djebar) have not been changed for the sake of consistency. vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the contributions of a number of individuals and institutions. The research and writing of this project were funded by generous support from the American Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS), the Foreign Language & Area Studies (FLAS) Program, the University of California Interdisciplinary Psychoanalytic Consortium (UCIPC), as well as UCLA’s Center for European & Eurasian Studies (CEES), Graduate Division and Department of Comparative Literature. Chapter One was published in a slightly modified form as “Revolutionary Eschatology: Islam & the End of Time in al-!"hir Wa##"r’s al-Zilz!l,” Journal of Arabic Literature 42:2-3 (2011): 120-147. I thank Brill for permission to reprint and the gracious feedback offered by the anonymous reviewers at JAL. I have also benefited from presenting various incarnations of this project at the American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA), Harvard University, the University of Texas at Austin, the Pennsylvania State University and the University of Pennsylvania. My interest in Comparative Literature and the Maghreb began as an undergraduate at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. I am indebted to the outstanding scholars and mentors I worked with: Richard Serrano introduced me to literature of the Maghreb, Richard Dienst demystified literary theory, Elaine Chang’s seminars exposed me to postcolonial criticism, and Janet Walker mentored me in the methodologies of Comparative Literature. UCLA provided a rigorous intellectual community and I thank the faculty and staff who inspired and supported me throughout my graduate career: Eleanor Kaufman, Kirstie M. McClure, viii Michael Cooperson, Ali Behdad, Efrain Kristal, Michelle Clayton, Susan Slymovics, Kenneth Reinhard, Stathis Gourgouris, Vinay Lal, Françoise Lionnet, Katherine King, Courtney Klipp, Michelle Anderson and Michelle Lambarena. I am particularly indebted to my outstanding doctoral committee. Aamir Mufti helped shape my approach to Secular Criticism and Islamic Thought. Lia Brozgal graciously advised me in Francophone literature and criticism, and her keen editing eye and professional mentoring proved indispensible. Nouri Gana provided guidance in modern Arabic literature and criticism, tirelessly editing my transliterations and translations. I owe a special thanks to Gil Hochberg has been both a mentor and a friend. She believed in my work even when I was plagued with doubts, and her commitment to producing conscientious scholarship has inspired both my academic career and this dissertation. To the graduate students in the Department of Comparative Literature at UCLA that served as colleagues and friends – providing friendly faces at conferences, professional advice, and most importantly, levity during the trials and tribulations of graduate school – I extend a warm thanks: Spencer Jackson, Katherine McCloone, Lisa Felipe, Neetu Khanna, Talar Chahinian, Marian Gabra, Simchi Cohen, Noa Bar, Peter Lehman, Susannah Rodriguez Drissi, Amy Tahani, Kirk Sides, Myrna Douzjian, Tamar Boyadijan, David Fieni, Jordan Smith, David Gabriel, Carol Viers and Simona Livescu. Similarly, academic