Research Article

Oppression of Women in Assia Djebar’s So Vast The Prison

Number: 39 June 22, 2018
  • Gönül Bakay
TR EN

Oppression of Women in Assia Djebar’s So Vast The Prison

Abstract

In So Vast the Prison (1995), Assia Djebar examines whether deliverance from the oppression of patriarchy is possible for women and by which means it can be achieved. The title of the novel suggests that a country shaped by colonialism and patriarchy is one vast prison. The power of conservative (patriarchal) ideology is manifested in almost every aspect of women’s lives. The novel is written in the form of a journey. In this sense, the novel can be read as a quest narrative and the movement from one place to another also corresponds to movement from one language to another. The female narrator blends her personal story with the collective history of Algerian women. She is torn between her desire to live the liberated life of a modern woman and life dictated by traditional Islamic mores. Djebar associates the adoption of the colonialist’s language with a form of death. French, the paternal language of the narrator, is a gateway to freedom in the social world - yet it is the language of colonial authority. It severs the narrator’s ties with her maternal tongue which is Arabic. In order to find her true identity, she has to reach out to her ancestors in her maternal tongue. In the light of these observations, the aim of this article is to critically examine the oppression of women as portrayed in So Vast the Prison.

Keywords

References

  1. Ahnouch, Fatima and Pamela Genova (1996). “Assia Djebar: The Song of Writing”. World Literature Today 70 (4): 795-797.
  2. Djebar, Assia (1999). So Vast the Prison. New York: Seven Stories Press.
  3. Drissi, Susannah (2005). ”The Quest for Body and Voice in Assia Djebar’s So Vast The Prison”. Comparative Literature and Culture 7 (3): 2-8.
  4. Fanon, Frantz (1965). A Dying Colonialism. Middlesex: Penguin Books ltd.
  5. Faulkner, Rita (1996) “A. Assia Djebar, Frantz Fanon, Women, Veils and Land”. World Literature Today 70 (4): 847-855.
  6. Flores, Andrea (1999). ”Ruin and Effect Assia Djebar’s So Vast the Prison” Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics 20: 299-319.Vaste est la prison”
  7. Hiddleston, Jane (winter, 2004). “Feminism and te Question of ‘Woman’ in Assia Djebar’sVaste est la Prison” Research in African Literature 35 (4): 91-104.
  8. Hitchcock, Peter (2009). The Long Space: Transnationalism and Postcolonal Form.San Fransisco: Stanford University Press.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

-

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Gönül Bakay This is me

Publication Date

June 22, 2018

Submission Date

February 21, 2018

Acceptance Date

-

Published in Issue

Year 2018 Number: 39

APA
Bakay, G. (2018). Oppression of Women in Assia Djebar’s So Vast The Prison. Selçuk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 39, 119-126. https://doi.org/10.21497/sefad.443365
AMA
1.Bakay G. Oppression of Women in Assia Djebar’s So Vast The Prison. SEFAD. 2018;(39):119-126. doi:10.21497/sefad.443365
Chicago
Bakay, Gönül. 2018. “Oppression of Women in Assia Djebar’s So Vast The Prison”. Selçuk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, nos. 39: 119-26. https://doi.org/10.21497/sefad.443365.
EndNote
Bakay G (June 1, 2018) Oppression of Women in Assia Djebar’s So Vast The Prison. Selçuk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 39 119–126.
IEEE
[1]G. Bakay, “Oppression of Women in Assia Djebar’s So Vast The Prison”, SEFAD, no. 39, pp. 119–126, June 2018, doi: 10.21497/sefad.443365.
ISNAD
Bakay, Gönül. “Oppression of Women in Assia Djebar’s So Vast The Prison”. Selçuk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi. 39 (June 1, 2018): 119-126. https://doi.org/10.21497/sefad.443365.
JAMA
1.Bakay G. Oppression of Women in Assia Djebar’s So Vast The Prison. SEFAD. 2018;:119–126.
MLA
Bakay, Gönül. “Oppression of Women in Assia Djebar’s So Vast The Prison”. Selçuk Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, no. 39, June 2018, pp. 119-26, doi:10.21497/sefad.443365.
Vancouver
1.Gönül Bakay. Oppression of Women in Assia Djebar’s So Vast The Prison. SEFAD. 2018 Jun. 1;(39):119-26. doi:10.21497/sefad.443365

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