Title
Sexual Fluidity and Movements in Abdellah Taïa's L'armée du salut; The Birth of a Queer Moroccan Francophone Identity
Campus
Gainesville
Publication date
6-2021
Publisher
Lexington Books
Book or Journal Information
In this first edited collection in English on Abdellah Taïa, Denis M. Provencher and Siham Bouamer frame the distinctiveness of the Moroccan author’s migration by considering current scholarship in French and Francophone studies, post-colonial studies, affect theory, queer theory, and language and sexuality. In contrast to critics that consider Taïa to immigrate and integrate successfully to France as a writer and intellectual, Provencher and Bouamer argue that the author’s writing is replete with elements of constant migration, “comings and goings,” cruel optimism, flexible accumulation of language over borders, transnational filiations, and new forms of belonging and memory making across time and space. At the same time, his constantly evolving identity emerges in many non-places, defined as liminal and border narrative spaces where unexpected and transgressive new forms of belonging emerge without completely shedding shame, mourning, or melancholy.
Abstract
In his third novel, Salvation Army, published in France in 2006, Taïa pursues his use of autofiction, a style of writing that is very much favored by many French authors and gives the reader a poignant account of some of the most important relationships he has had in his life. The novel tells the story of Abdellah’s journey to Geneva to pursue his graduate studies, and the struggles he encounters during his first few days in this city, but also of happier times in Morocco. Through the prism of Queer Theory, I argue that movement, whether it be through the author’s writing, the temporal movement between the present of the novel and the flashbacks in Morocco or the geographical movement, contributes to the creation of a queer Moroccan identity. I first propose to look at the movement in the writing of the novel, and how the changes in pronouns in each of the three parts of the novel are an integral part in the creation of this queer identity. I then look at the chronological movement, with the incessant back and forth between the present of the novel, the chapters in Geneva, and the past, represented by the chapters in Morocco, and how this temporal movement participates in the creation of Abdellah’s identity as a queer identity. Finally, the geographical movement also informs this queer identity. In Salvation Army, a great deal of attention is brought to the description and importance of the different places where Abdellah moves and interacts with other characters.
Sexual Fluidity and Movements in Abdellah Taïa's L'armée du salut; The Birth of a Queer Moroccan Francophone Identity
In his third novel, Salvation Army, published in France in 2006, Taïa pursues his use of autofiction, a style of writing that is very much favored by many French authors and gives the reader a poignant account of some of the most important relationships he has had in his life. The novel tells the story of Abdellah’s journey to Geneva to pursue his graduate studies, and the struggles he encounters during his first few days in this city, but also of happier times in Morocco. Through the prism of Queer Theory, I argue that movement, whether it be through the author’s writing, the temporal movement between the present of the novel and the flashbacks in Morocco or the geographical movement, contributes to the creation of a queer Moroccan identity. I first propose to look at the movement in the writing of the novel, and how the changes in pronouns in each of the three parts of the novel are an integral part in the creation of this queer identity. I then look at the chronological movement, with the incessant back and forth between the present of the novel, the chapters in Geneva, and the past, represented by the chapters in Morocco, and how this temporal movement participates in the creation of Abdellah’s identity as a queer identity. Finally, the geographical movement also informs this queer identity. In Salvation Army, a great deal of attention is brought to the description and importance of the different places where Abdellah moves and interacts with other characters.