Writing on the 'Unhealable Rift': Exile and (Be)Longing in Leïla Sebbar and Darina Al Joundi. (15th May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Vassallo, Helen
• Is Part Of: Forum for modern language studies. Volume 54:Number 4(2018)
• Page Start: 465
• Page End: 480
• Publication Date: 2018-05-15
• Subjects: exile -- longing -- community -- war -- Darina Al Joundi -- Leïla Sebbar -- Lebanon -- Algeria -- Edward Said -- Susan Sontag; Languages, Modern -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; Philology, Modern -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 800.05
• DOI: 10.1093/fmls/cqy016
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0015-8518

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article draws together questions of longing and belonging, identity, community and citizenship, proposing that experiences of conflict silence women, exile them, and leave them without community. The analysis focuses on Franco-Algerian writer Leïla Sebbar and Lebanese author and actor Darina Al Joundi, and suggests that, despite different backgrounds, contexts, approaches and genres, the need to belong is processed in their work so that the texts they create through this longing help to recover not only a sense of self, but also a sense of community or belonging. Taking Edward Said's essay 'Reflections on Exile' as its starting point, the article explores how both Sebbar and Al Joundi exemplify characteristics that Said posits as common to the experience of exile. The analysis of exile is underpinned by reference to Susan Sontag's 'Against Interpretation', to show how the chosen texts are not necessarily narratives of exile, but rather contribute to an understanding – and re-thinking – of the experience of exile. The analysis is in three parts: the first looks at encounters with exile, and how these create or deny identity. The article then moves on to consider how Sebbar and Al Joundi attempt to 'reconstitute' lives that have been broken by war or a legacy of war, before working towards the subject of the final section, life writing as a method of creating community and territory in the text.