History and collective memory in three novels

Abstract

This thesis explores Aijaz Ahmeds suggestion of "Collectivity" which offers a reading for literary texts instead of Frederic Jamesons notion of "National Allegory". I will show how third-world texts offer a gendered reading for the narrative of history and collective memory as two representations of "Collectivity". History and collective memory manifest themselves through the genealogy of the body and gender trouble issues. My argument tackles three novels from different cultural backgrounds: J.M. Coetzees Waiting for the Barbarians, Hoda Barakats The Stone of Laughter and Tahar Ben Jellouns The Sand Child. Coetzee illustrates how collective memory represents a counter-narrative to history which surfaces as being the ultimate truth in a colonial context. Barakat traces back the hegemony of the civil war memory by unmasking the inner conflicts the characters experience, and the contextual split between the self and the other. Ben Jelloun demonstrates the notion of gender identity by revisiting the split between history and memory.