An Algerian palimpsest: the representation of spaces in Meursault, contre-enquête by Kamel Daoud

Abstract

This essay applies the tools of geocriticism to a reading of the novel Meursault, contre-enquête (2014) by Algerian writer Kamel Daoud, in order to show how an analysis of spaces in a French-language work can reveal useful elements for interpretation. The analysis is based in particular on the geophilosophy of space proposed by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari: these authors replace the vision of a root-shaped space with the image of the rhizome, a notion that shows efficacely the complexity of the Francophonie and its history.