Habel de Mohammed Dib : une histoire d’émigration en quête de visibilité

Abstract

The article proposes an analysis of the novel Habel (1977) by the Algerian writer Mohammed Dib. Written with a style steeped in allegory and lyricism, as elusive and complex as the reality represented, the novel delves into the inner universe of a young immigrant in search of visibility. The space of the city outlines a ‘topography’ of the character’s intimacy, in a dysphoric heterotopia of disillusionment. The analysis also explores the space of the supermarket, tracing the contours of a paradoxical non-place: a transient microcosm that, as a workplace, gives the emigrant a minimal sense of identity. Ultimately, rather than returning to his homeland, Habel chooses to reside in a psychiatric clinic with his beloved, Lyli. In a paradoxical twist, it is precisely the space of the hospital – heterotopia of ‘deviation’ – that salvages Habel from anonymity. Here, within the ‘closed’ regenerative space of the clinic, in contrast to the open yet consuming city, Habel can be reborn, albeit in madness. Situated between stylistics, semiotics, and narratology, this study interprets Habel’s heterotopic, destabilising trajectory as the prelude to an euphoric, neutral, and purifying delineation of the ‘douceur’ of utopia (Foucault 2009), within a new, uchronian present.

Keywords

• Habel. Heterotopy. Migrant literature. Mohammed Dib. Visibility