Remembering 17 October 1961 and the Novels of Rachid Boudjedra

Bibliographic Data

ID9250853
AuthorsSeth Graebner (corresponding author)
Year2005
Volume36
Issue4
Pages172-197
Publication date2005-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueResearch in African Literatures (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0034-5210 • E-ISSN: 1527-2044
PublisherIndiana University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.2979/ral.2005.36.4.172
OpenAlexW1987638559
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited7

The infamous but ostensibly forgotten massacre of Algerians in Paris was not suddenly rediscovered in the late 1990s, but in fact had remained in the collective memory of North African immigrants. Two novels by Rachid Boudjedra, Topographie idéale pour une agression caractérisée (1975) and Le vainqueur de coupe (1981), attest to the persistence of these memories. Both memory and an appreciation of history are necessary to move successfully in the city. These novels suggest how the urban immigrant community may produce and use history, as Boudjedra's characters become creators of lieux de mémoire. The development of immigrant lieux de mémoire nonetheless differs from that of "native" French places described by the historian Pierre Nora. Today, France is attempting simultaneously to manage memories of its recent history and to include immigrants and their descendants in the very society that is only now recollecting parts of their history. Discovering what might constitute lieux de mémoire for immigrants and their descendants is therefore vital to understanding the contemporary multiethnic French society

Genealogy · Caribbean and African Literature and Culture · History · North African History and Literature · Political and Social Issues

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