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- Title
Writing Queer Desire in the Language of the "Other": Abdellah Taïa and Rachid O.
- Authors
Ncube, Gibson
- Abstract
Since the attainment of independence by Maghrebian nations (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia), there has been animated discussion of the use of either Arabic or French as the language of expression. A liminal linguistic spectacle has emerged between the two languages in such a way that there is a dialogic intertwining and resonance occurring between them. This paper focuses on how in spite of the “cultural recognition of a wide array of sexual practices and roles spelled out meticulously in the linguistic variants attributed to them” (Al-Samman 272), the terms “homosexual” and “homosexuality” (in the Western sense of the words) do not exist in dialectal Arabic. This paper thus explores the stakes surrounding the use of French in explicitly broaching “marginal” sexuality in the novels of two openly gay Moroccan writers, Rachid O. and Abdellah Taïa. It is herein posited that the “transliteration” of experiences encountered in Arab-Muslim milieu through the use of the French language allows for an opening up of a discursive domain that had hitherto remained shrouded in silence and regarded as taboo and unutterable.
- Subjects
LGBTQ+ people in literature; GENDER expression; O., Rachid, 1970-; TAIA, Abdellah; HUMAN sexuality
- Publication
Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities, 2014, Vol 6, Issue 1, p87
- ISSN
0975-2935
- Publication type
Article