From one past to another. The intertwining of history and memory in the work of Kébir-Mustapha Ammi

Abstract

This article examines the movements of revive and reformulation around which the fiction of Kébir Mustapha Ammi is organized, as exemplified in two novels: Les Vertus immorales (2009) and Mardochée (2011). The aim is to show how he deploys the reinvestment of established and canonical versions of History through the intertwining of history and memory. In other words, firstly, it sets out to identify the scriptural modalities and strategies by which the past is exhumed and put back into new circuits of meaning. Secondly, it aims to explore the ethical and aesthetic issues that drive the Moroccan-Algerian novelist’s approach.