Representations and Imaginative Spaces in the Algerian Novel

This research examines the idea of how the Algerian novel addresses issues related to representations (les représentations), which construct perceptions of things, the world, nature, social relations, institutions, and various phenomena through imaginary images and signs, considering that these perceptions are closely linked to collective memory, heritage, and cultural landmarks associated with imaginary spaces (espaces imaginaires).

The theme of urban spaces in the city holds particular importance for researchers across different fields of the human sciences (urbanism, sociology, social psychology, semiotics, discourse analysis, and literary criticism), due to the sociological, economic, and symbolic dimensions these spaces embody as places of residence.

The city, as a space with its own topography and geography, composed of architectural forms, reflects the history of the society that founded it. It also interweaves various relationships linked to social, symbolic, and economic exchanges, which grant it a distinct identity.

This specific dimension of places and their inhabitants allows them to acquire a cultural principle that distinguishes them across history. Historically, it is noteworthy that the emergence of cities in modern times coincided with the rise of the novel, a new literary genre that reveals human relationships in an unprecedented way. The various industrial revolutions, whose early centers were the cities of the last two centuries, produced social hierarchies and fragmented urban space into multiple zones: workplaces, residential and leisure areas, commercial negotiation spaces, neighborhoods for the wealthy, and others for the poor…

These spaces quickly became exemplary and favored settings for novelists to construct compelling plotlines. For literary fiction, these spaces provide the vital framework within which events and characters develop, in both their individual and social dimensions.

Algerian novelists, like their counterparts in other countries, have utilized this structural element of the imaginative space to construct narratives exploring themes such as adventure, travel, and social conflicts.

The city, as an imaginary space, acquired with the generation of the 1950s (Mohammed Dib’s trilogy, Négma Kacimi Yassine, among others) the status of a symbol of colonial authority. It became an alienating space where hatred dominates and where literary characters are confronted with despair and disorientation.

Therefore, we can ask: how are these imaginary urban spaces represented and transformed in the Algerian novel, whether written in French or Arabic, during the postcolonial period by authors such as Tahar Wattar, Rachid Boudjedra, El-Aaraj, Assini, and others? Another question arises: have the cities of independent Algeria become spaces of tension and various social conflicts (city-village conflict, generational struggles, ideological disputes, urban and political violence)? And has the novel depicted these aspects clearly?

For this study, the aim is to analyze and interpret these stylistic images and metaphors using a sociogenetic approach, by exploring the different representations of urban spaces along with their accompanying material and symbolic places, considering them as a framework within which literary characters act. It also examines the complex relationships these characters maintain with these spaces and, finally, analyzes the various discourses constructed around this urban environment and its extensions.