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Année académique 2019-2020 The Notion of Identity Crisis in Lebanese Contempora

Année académique 2019-2020 The Notion of Identity Crisis in Lebanese Contemporary Fiction Focus on Three Lebanese Civil War Novels: Little Mountain, Maryam Keeper of Stories and The Ninety-Ninth Floor KABBANI, Hiba Mémoire présenté sous la direction de LUFFIN Xavier en vue de l’obtention du titre de Master en Langues et Lettres Modernes, Orientation Générale à Finalité Didactique. AUTEUR Hiba Kabbani Étudiante en langue et lettre modernes, orientation générale (Anglais- Arabe), à finalité didactique. Année académique 2019-2020 TITRE DU MÉMOIRE The Notion of Identity Crisis in Lebanese Contemporary Fiction. A Focus on Three Lebanese Civil War Novels: Little Mountain, Maryam Keeper of Stories and The Ninety-Ninth Floor. RÉSUMÉ Ce mémoire s’engage dans une analyse thématique de trois romans traitant de la guerre civile libanaise. Ces ouvrages mettent l’emphase sur les conséquences de la guerre, aussi bien sur l’identité du peuple libanais que sur la ville de Beyrouth. Dès lors, tout au long de cette étude, les thèmes d’identité fragmentée, d’exil et de traumatisme psychique sont traités. Le but de cette recherche est d’établir une distinction entre le point de vue des romanciers et celui des romancières. Ainsi, l’analyse soulève les similitudes et les divergences décelées dans les romans. Hommes et femmes convergent dans leur œuvre en ce qui concerne la présence d’un discours de violence sectaire ainsi que les conséquences psychologiques de l’exil. Ces derniers divergent néanmoins sur la représentation de la ville de Beyrouth en état de guerre. Une dimension féministe est retrouvée au sein des romans des écrivaines à travers laquelle la femme est amenée à se battre contre la société patriarcale en défiant les normes traditionnelles relatives de la sexualité avant le mariage. Une véritable « révolution sexuelle » est entreprise par ces femmes dont les conséquences sont considérables. Cette révolution permet, par ailleurs, de mettre en évidence les inégalités sociales au sein de la société libanaise. Concernant la vision de la ville de Beyrouth, celle-ci est comparée à un « miroir brisé ». Cette comparaison repose sur le fait que la capitale libanaise ne se soucie pas des souffrances de ses habitants et est, ainsi, dépourvue de reflet. Le rôle des écrivain.es libanais.es est de reconstruire ce miroir à travers leurs romans en représentant les expériences traumatiques vécues par les Libanais pendant la guerre. MOTS-CLÉS Lebanon, Sectarianism, War Novels, Cultural Trauma, Civil War, Sexuality, Khoury, Collective Memory, El-Hassan, Sobh, Amnesia, Political Revolution, Violence. Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank Prof. Luffin for his careful supervision on this project. I would also like to thank Prof. Maufort for helping me find the subject of my thesis. Système de translittération Table of Contents Introduction ……………………….…………………………………………………………7 1. Corpus ..……………………………………………………………………………………11 1.1 Elias Khoury: Biography and Career ……….……………………………………10 1.1.1 Little Mountain……………………………………………………………. 12 1.2 Alawiya Sobh: Biography and Career ………………………………….…….…. .13 1.2.1 Maryam: Keeper of Stories…………………………………….………… 13 1.3 Jana El-Hassan: Biography and Career ………………………………..………..15 1.3.1 The Ninety-Ninth Floor……………………………………….…….…….15 2.3 Selection of the Books.............................................................................................16 2. Lebanese Identity in Crisis ............................................................................................. 18 2.1. Historical overview: The Origins of Political Confessionalism ………………….18 2.1.1 Post-independence period: Why Did Lebanon Fail to Prosper? …………….19 2.2 Extinction of Lebanese National Identity and its Current Revival ……………….24 3. The Civil War as a Gateway to Literary Field ............................................................. 29 3.1 Emergence of the Lebanese Literary Tradition……………………………….….. 29 3.2 Lebanese Women Writing: From Marginalization to Liberation …….…………. 34 3.2.1 A focus on It’s Called Passion and Maryam Keeper of Stories ……………..36 3.3 Trauma Fiction: Lebanon’s State-Sponsored Amnesia …………………….…….39 4. Religious Secterianism:The Paradox of a National Unity in a Multi-Religious Society43 4.1 Little Mountain: A Christian Fighting Alongside Palestinians …………….…….44 4.2 The Ninety-Ninth Floor: A Love Story Between Two “Enemies” ……………..…46 4.3 Maryam Keeper of Stories: Intra-Family Conflicts …………………………...…..49 5. Rendering of the City: War, Sexuality and Violence……….………………………......51 5.1 Little Mountain: The City as a Woman that Has to be Defeated…......……………52 5.2 Maryam Keeper of Stories: Challenging the Patriarchal Order…………………..56 5.3 The Ninety-Ninth Floor: Sabra and Shatila Massacre ………………………..…..58 6. Exile: Internal and External Exodus………………………………………………..……62 6.1 External Exile: Physical and Psychic Dimensions ……………....…………….…64 6.1.1 Little Mountain: Exile in Paris ………………………………………….…..64 6.1.2 Maryam Keeper of Stories: Exile in Canada ……………………………..….65 6.1.3 The Ninety-Ninth Floor: Exile in New York …………………………………..66 6.2 Internal Exile: Rural-Urban Migration …………………………………………. . 67 6.3 Back from Exile: The Case of Hilda ………………………………………………69 7. The Palestinian Question…………………………………………………………………72 7.1 Little Mountain: Palestine is the Condition of us all ……………….……....…….74 7.2 Maryam Keeper of Stories: A Meaningful Absence ………………………….…75 7.3 The Ninety-Ninth Floor: A New Kind of Palestinian ………………………..……76 8. Modern-day Lebanese Novel: the Civil War as a Continuing Theme………..….…… 80 8.1 Children of the Ghetto, My Name Is Adam…………………………………...……80 8.2 The Occasional Virgin…………………………………………………………….82 8.3 De Niro's Game ……………………………………………………...……………83 8.4 A Game for Swallows: To Die, To Leave, To Return………………………………85 Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………….… 87 References…………………………………………………………………………………... 91 Appendix…………………………………………………………………………………... 103 7 Introduction The Lebanese Civil War (1975- 1990) has constituted a recurrent theme for numerous novelists and writers living in Lebanon or abroad. The events of the war, the chaos and destruction it has caused have resulted in a collective trauma as much for older generations and youngest Lebanese. Thus, dealing with the war and its consequences as a main theme in their novel forces writers to participate in a post-war memory process which is meant to get rid of the amnesia suffered by the Lebanese. Hence, this study also participates in this rehabilitation of war memory. This thesis examines the representation of the fractured Lebanese identity in contemporary fiction of three Lebanese Civil War novels. Two reasons, one personal the other practical, can be advanced to justify my interest in this subject. Since I am originally Lebanese, this paper is meant to understand in depth the history of Lebanese society and the true nature of its downfall. Despite a wide range of studies in the ethnic politics of Lebanon, in clientelism and sectarianism, few studies have been implemented on the intrinsic Lebanese identity crisis. Thus, I strongly believe this thesis will provide additional material for future investigations. Despite the lack of studies on the Lebanese part, ‘identity crisis’ is a typical preoccupation in literature and in cultural studies, for when social repercussions arise in a country, it leaves unavoidable scars on the consciousness of its people. These scars can consequently lead to a quest for identity and eventually, in the creation of a new way to define the self. The country of Lebanon has been widely used as an example of sectarian fragmentation and ethnic conflict, and is described in such terms as “fragmented nation” or simply “highly complex” (Ghosn and Parkinson 2019, 1). Therefore, the question of why Lebanon is considered a failed state with a fragmented nation and identity will be the main issue of this thesis. The corpus data shall be presented in the first chapter. A brief biography of each novelists and of the main aesthetics used in the following three selected books: al-Jabal al- ṣaghīr (Little Mountain, 1977), Ṭābiq 99 (The Ninety-Ninth Floor,2014), Maryam al-ḥakaya (2002, Maryam Keeper of Stories) shall be noted. Those novels have been written in the Arabic language; thus, their best known translation has been used. Moreover, the last two novels have received little analytical attention, although both have been the subject of several journalistic appraisals and popular acclaim. This is due in part to their later publication dates (Al-Masri, 8). Moreover, a brief clarification on the four parameters I have used to select the literature shall be mentioned. 8 The second chapter sets out a general overview of how Lebanese sectarian identity emerged and the context in which the war exploded, causing the collapse of the state. The history of the country must be traced back in three periods: before, during and after independence. After a historical overview, the issue of how Lebanese national identity was at the border of explosion and its current “resurrection” shall be considered. Dealing with this subject is certainly of great importance considering the current situation in Lebanon. From the 21st of October until this very day, people have been demonstrating against the impoverished government and its incapacity to bring its country forward. An unprecedented change of the political system is demanded by citizens, since this system has been at the heart of the Lebanese crisis. A section will be devoted to the demands and aspirations of Lebanese, as well as both positive and negative outcomes that this revolt would generate. After the country’s self- destruction following the Civil War of 1975, Lebanese asserted their national identity for the first time. Such an identity is not attached to any specific religion or political affiliation but is essentially based on the core idea of being Lebanese. The third chapter addresses the Lebanese Civil War as an event that has shaped the cultural and literary development of the country. In the Oxford Handbook of Arab Novelistic Tradition, Salem (2018) highlights the fact that “novel and nation, often intertwined, suggest, in the case of Lebanon, a relationship so complex […] giving rise to what may be called “failed- state fiction” (195). This term is a reference to Marx’s (2008) uploads/Litterature/ kabbani-hiba-thesis-pdf.pdf