La honte et la culpabilité dans les récits algériens, expressions de la crise identitaire au féminin?
Shame and Guilt in the Algerian Narratives – Expressions of the Feminine Identity Crisis?

Summary/Abstract: In their narratives, Assia Djebar, Maïssa Bey, Leila Aslaoui and Yamina Benguigui frequently feature female characters that experience feelings of inferiority and unworthiness, of shame and guilt, potentially leading to real identity crises. Given the opportunity to make themselves heard, these fictional women express the unspoken and the taboo. Psychoanalysis, social criticism and auto-fiction interpretation applied to the above mentioned texts are efficient in pinpointing the subordinate status of Algerian women. This article will focus on the female identity lacking or having little access to education, freedom of speech and movement, equal rights and marital happiness, and consequently falling into shame and guilt, as described in four Algerian works, covering the period between the 1930s and the 2000s.

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