Open Access
Crimes of diction : language and national belonging in the fiction of Amara Lakhous
Loading...
Files
CrimesofDiction.pdf (110.83 KB)
Embargoed until 2017, Post-print version
License
Cadmus Permanent Link
Full-text via DOI
ISBN
ISSN
1473-3536; 1752-2331
Issue Date
Type of Publication
Keyword(s)
LC Subject Heading
Other Topic(s)
EUI Research Cluster(s)
Initial version
Published version
Succeeding version
Preceding version
Published version part
Earlier different version
Initial format
Author(s)
Citation
Journal of Romance studies, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 1–21
Cite
MCGUIRE, Valerie, Crimes of diction : language and national belonging in the fiction of Amara Lakhous, Journal of Romance studies, 2015, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 1–21 - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/45189
Abstract
The article offers a study of the use of language in the fiction of Algerian-born writer, Amara Lakhous. It focuses on his two popular novels set in Rome, Clash of Civilizations over an Elevator at Piazza Vittorio (2008) and Divorce, Islamic Style (2012), in which the author describes changes in Italy and in definitions of Italian identity as the country undergoes the threefold process of migration, globalization and European integration. The article argues that the novels adopt a structure that displaces a single authored text and which suggests an authorship that is plurivoce, or plural voiced, and therefore able to overturn the marginalization of migrant voices. Exploring the author’s foregrounding of linguistic practices – including voice, diction, and ethnic labelling – the article engages with Italy’s history of regional, national, and transnational identities to argue that these novels are a postcolonial satire of the tenuous link between language and national belonging in Italy.
Table of Contents
Additional Information
Published (Print): 01 Jun 2015