Reading between the lines : sous rature spaces in the works of André Brink and Assia Djebar

Abstract

Despite various parallels in their work, the novels of the South African André Brink and Algerian writer Assia Djebar are rarely compared. This paper explores the similar quest for spaces that is found in a selection of works from these authors from opposing poles of the African continent. The paper demonstrates that in their texts, spaces are often created through language. The language used by characters to create spaces is also often spatially portrayed. It is therefore not only the quest for spaces but more specifically languages as spaces, or spaces as languages, or language-spaces that is investigated. The article moreover indicates that when using a postcolonial and poststructuralist framework to examine these language-spaces (as many literary critics tend to do), it might limit our analysis. A slight shift in Jacques Derrida’s use of sous rature reading is suggested that possibly enriches the interpretation on spaces in Djebar’s and Brink’s work.