The Meursault Investigation: A Contrapuntal Reading. (18th August 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Radhakrishnan, R.
• Is Part Of: Cambridge journal of postcolonial literary inquiry. Volume 4:Number 3(2017)
• Page Start: 440
• Page End: 456
• Publication Date: 2017-08-18
• Subjects: Frantz Fanon, -- Edward Said, -- France, -- Algeria, -- Self-Other binary, -- colonialism, -- intertextuality, -- postcolonial theory, -- counter-memory, -- contrapuntal critique, -- double-consciousness, -- decolonization, -- nationalism; Postcolonialism in literature -- Periodicals; Literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; 809.93358
• DOI: 10.1017/pli.2017.32
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2052-2614

Abstract

Abstract: How will the author teach Kamel Daoud's The Meursault Investigation in an undergraduate class on postcolonial literature and theory? With this pedagogical perspective in mind, this essay attempts a contrapuntal appreciation of the intertextual relationship between Daoud's The Meursault Investigation and Albert Camus's L'Etranger . On the basis of Daoud's novel, this intervention critically rehearses and reformulates the many crises and dilemmas that constitute postcolonial theory: postcolonial asymmetry and counter-memory, the predicament of secular nationalism, decolonization of the mind, humanism and the relationship of ontology to politics, and the future of third world literature.