Language and Identity

Abstract

Assia Djebar of Algerıa, a novelist of the French language or of the francophon literature, has been rewarded with many prizes and has established herself as a marked feminist since the early 1980’s. As an intellectual woman, a professor of history and a moviemaker, she denounces the wearing of Islamic veil and the position of contemporary women under the threat of traditional rules :The emancipation and the strggle for the independence of Algeria are the major subjects of her novels. She contributes widely to the awareneass of women in the Arabic world. After the independence of Algeria in 1962, Assia Djebar was fascinated by the history of her country. In her novel, the fundamental problematical is to describe the suffering of the new search for identity in the society.The tradıtıons dissolving day by day are transmitted by the women locked up in their homes : She know to keep all the legend to tell children. The legends continue to form the identity of the futur generations.In Vaste est la prison the loks serve as a crossroad between orient colonial and Occident. According to Assia Djebar, the history of the french language started in 1830, when the French Naval Fleet arrived in Algeria. French language enabled her to learn her own history and introduced her to a new cultural surounding. It is because of Assia Djebar that French language is colled ‘other’s langauage’, while Arabic is called, maternal language, ‘same’ . Inspired by this idea, this article deals whit three essantial subjects :search for history/search for identity, writing, looks and double cultures in the novel titled Vaste est la prison written by Assia Djebar.