Assia Djebar (1936-2015) is an Algerian author who wrote the novel : ‘The Disappearance of the French Language’. This article explores the way in which the theme of the politicisation of language by nationalist politics is expressed in this novel. It ends with a suggestion as to how its ambiguous title might be interpreted.
The main character Berkane an Algerian who, at the age of 45, returns first to the family villa by the sea in Algiers’ Sahel and then to the Casbah of Algiers, Rue Bleue where he grew up. After 20 years of living in the Paris suburbs, he took early retirement in 1991. Berkane is working on an autobiographical book and particular attention is paid to the role of Arabic and French in his questioning of his identity and in his relationship with his loved ones.
There is a main narrative (October 1991-December 1993) and an embedded narrative (1952-1962) which consists of analespes. The novel is mainly told from Berkane’s point of view in the first person through conversations.
In the first section of the book, ‘the return’, Berkane addresses a fisherman named Rachid, and tells him in Arabic about his childhood memories from the age of six in 1952. In the second section, ‘love and writing’, Berkane mainly addresses Nadjia, his lover. They exchange their traumatic memories of the war in Arabic, a language of love and proximity for Berkane. It also includes an extract from Berkane’s novel about his adolescence, written in French which Berkane considers his language of writing. In the third section, ‘the disappearance’, Berkane has disappeared as the narrator; the story is told from the point of view of an external narrator who follows his former companion Maryse, her brother Driss and Nadjia.
In the novel, language is the main theme. First, languages are at the heart of the main character’s search for identity. Second, it shows how languages are politicised by French and Algerian nationalism.
The author expresses the structural oppression of French colonial power through the French language. Si Said, the father of Berkane, counts on the fact that his sons will one day speak French, hoping in this to develop his business (p.46). Here we see the socio-economic barriers to mobility that the French language represented during the colonial era. On the other hand, the author expresses the legacy of these structures when, in 1993, the commissioner who questions Driss about the disappearance of Berkane speaks more easily in French. This is explained by the fact that, as a civil servant, the latter probably passed his exam during the colonial era (p.186). This shows that French remained in the power structures even long after the independence.The novel also expresses the racial and cultural hierarchy through the French language. This is illustrated by the school principal’s contempt for the father, when he says: ‘In that get-up (…) I suppose he doesn’t speak French!’ (p.48).
However, the novel also shows that opposition to the French language, and therefore by extension to the colonial system, contributes to the expression of Algerian nationalism. As a child, Berkane remembers his brother angrily telling him: ‘Don’t forget, by the way, when it’s written in French, it’s almost always necessary to understand the exact opposite!’ (p.42)
On the other hand, the author describes how the French language was targeted by radical Islamism in the 1990s. [KD1] We read that: ‘the hunt for French-speaking intellectuals had resumed in full force’ (p.198). Some journalists make it known that they will now write in Arabic, implied in the novel for fear of reprimands, and Marise laments: ‘What Berkane would never have done, Marise thought to herself, he who needed his two languages so much’ (p.198). Doubt hangs over Berkane’s disappearance, but it is suggested that he may have been targeted as a French-speaking writer (p.200).
It seems that this novel denounces the violence suffered by Algerians because of their language and the expression of a certain identity through it. Assia Djebar thus seems to take a stand on the question of Algerian national identity and the policy of Arabisation. As expressed by the linguistic diversity and plurality of the characters in the book, Algerian identity cannot be defined through a single language. Assia Djebar’s conclusion seems to be that the politicisation of language, whatever language it may be, by nationalist movements and policies, represents the politicisation of personal identity. The book reflects that language is much more than an instrument of nationalist politics and that it is above all the freedom of the individual and the freedom of the artist.
It is nevertheless important to emphasise the ambiguity of the novel’s title: the disappearance of the French language.
In the book, there is no doubt that the title refers to a critique of the persecution of French-speaking intellectuals by radical Islamism. The author does not seem to hear anything else and it can be interpreted as a personal subject, she herself being a French-speaking Algerian writer. In 1962, when she was appointed professor of history at the University of Algiers and head of the French department, she was forced to teach her courses in literary Arabic, which she refused to do and she left her post.
However, this turn of phrase has a particular connotation in France. It is a discourse that is particularly present in French right-wing politics and refers to the fear of seeing the French language ‘deteriorate’ by including words from Arabic or African languages imported with immigration. It also refers to a certain anxiety of seeing it by being replaced by English. This is due to the supposed exceptional nature of the French language. The discourse on the protection of the French language is closely linked to the political discourse on immigration.
It can also be interpreted as a criticism of the ‘francophonie’ that the French government is keen to maintain in its former colonies. Indeed, the aim of the francophonie is to maintain the use of French internationally and as a language of modernity in science, technology and education, as expressed in the objectives of the charter. The ‘exceptional’ nature of the French language was emphasised as an argument by the president Nicolas Sarkozy in 2010. Thus, while sustainable development certainly figures on the Francophone agenda, it is not its number one priority. Maintaining and encouraging the French language in former colonies is above all to France’s advantage.
Sources :
· Bell, David A. Revolutionary France and the Origins of Nationalism: An Old Problem Revisited. 2016.
· Djebar, Assia. La disparition de la langue française. Paris : Éditions Albin Michel, 2003.
· Ford, Caroline C. “Which Nation? Language, Identity and Republican Politics in Post-Revolutionary France.” History of European Ideas, 1993.
· Heggoy, Alf Andrew. “Education in French Algeria: An Essay on Cultural Conflict.” Comparative Education Review17, no. 2 (1973): 180-197.
· Heggoy, Alf Andrew. Origins of Algerian Nationalism in the Colony and in France. 1968.
· Hills, JNC. National Identity and the Ongoing Struggle. 2009.
· Howe, John. The Crisis of Algerian Nationalism and the Rise of Islamic Integralism. 1992.
· McDougall, James. Dream of Exile, Promise of Home: Language, Education and Arabism in Algeria. 2011.
· Roberts, Hugh. Radical Islamism and the Dilemma of Algerian Nationalism: The Embattled Arians of Algiers. 1988.
· Duchêne, Alexandre, et Monica Heller. Discourses of Endangerment: Ideology and Interest in the Defence of Languages. Londres : A&C Black, 2008.
· Majumdar, M. A. “‘Une Francophonie à l’offensive’? Recent Developments in Francophonie.” Modern & Contemporary France 20, no. 1 (2011) : 1-20.
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