Description
Book SynopsisArgues that four French writers - Michel Tournier, J.M.G. Le Clezio, Tahar Ben Jelloun and Leila Sebbar - practice "activist writing" which, when combined with the work of certain photographers, reframes a picture of Maghreb produced by two centuries of Orientalist misrepresentation.
Trade ReviewMary Vogl's premise—that photography serves as a springboard for investigating broader questions of representation in the Francophone literary domain—is highly original. Her work adds a significant visual dimension to Francophone scholarship. -- Valérie Orlando, Illinois Wesleyan University
An important contribution. * Etudes Francophones *
Picturing the Maghreb is a very well-grounded literary study of contemporary French and North African writers that analyzes the use and impact of photography in their novels set in the Maghreb. * Research in African Literatures *
Although there has been some writing on how Maghrebians have been represented by French photographers, Vogl brings to light for the first time in French cultural studies the study of how Maghrebians respond . . . with their own self-representations from behind the camera. . . . Not only does focusing on the question of pictorial representation serve as the catalyst for interesting new readings of familiar texts, but the photographs themselves tell their own narrative, which becomes more and more compelling as it embraces Maghrebian photographers in the later chapters. Picturing the Maghreb makes a unique and exciting contribution to Maghrebian studies, and to the field of French postcolonial studies in general. -- Jarrod Hayes, University of Michigan
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction: In Search of Images Chapter 2 The Evil Demon of Images Chapter 3 Insight, Out of Sight Chapter 4 Looking through the Lens Chapter 5 Retouches and Reprints
