Description
Book SynopsisTime Signatures engages in a close study of the autobiographical writings of three contemporary Francophone writers from the Maghreb: Assia Djebar, HZl_ne Cixous, and AbdelkZbir Khatibi. Alluding to music not only as a ''theme'' pulsing throughout these writers'' works, but also as a means of comprehending their unique, improvisational writing styles, Alison Rice offers readers a new and beautifully constructed way of reading these authors'' texts by demonstrating that the form adopted to address topics of concern is as significant as the content itself. The voice of Jacques Derrida intermingles with the timbres of these three writers in fruitful contrapuntal passages, serving as a source of inspiration for conceptualizing language and communicating the self in an unprecedented manner. Time Signatures demonstrates that these individuals write the ''self'' in French in ways influenced by sensitivities acquired during their early experiences in a multicultural, multilingual ''colonial'' environment in which their ears were trained, and their minds tuned, for translations to come.
Trade ReviewAlison Rice's Time Signatures is an original, well-researched and strongly argued work on the structural relationship between Francophone autobiographical writings and music. It constitutes a significant contribution to Francophone Studies and opens a new direction in the field. -- Hafid Gafaïti, Texas Tech University
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Overture: Francophony? Legitimacy, Authenticity, and Integrity in French Literature Chapter 2 NameStakes: Putting the Proper Name into Textual Play Part 3 Assia Djebar Chapter 4 Religio: Re-thinking and Re-linking Cultural and Religious Tradition Chapter 5 Histoire à Contretemps: Syncopated Histories: Writing on the Off-Beat Part 6 Hélène Cixous Chapter 7 Settling the Musical Score: Orality, Rhythm, and Repetition in Writing Wrongs Chapter 8 Prelude to a Fugue, Out of North Africa: Uprooting and Rerouting in Autobiographical Fiction Part 9 Abdelkébir Khatibi Chapter 10 French Transcriptions, French Transpositions: Transportation, Transnation, and Transliteration Chapter 11 Silence and Schizophrenia: Subtle Slips of the Tongue Chapter 12 Nothing to Declare: Crossing the Border from Confession to Testimony
