Böcker av Dervila Cooke

This book analyses transcultural and autofictional works relating to youth and childhood by three major contemporary authors in France: Azouz Begag, Maryam Madjidi, and Laura Alcoba, of Algerian, Iranian, and Argentinian heritage respectively. Studying texts and societal issues in France from the turn of the millennium to June 2023, it analyses the authors' relationship with both France and the "home" country, and the problematic pull of return. It highlights how each author uses autofiction and life writing differently. Begag uses autofiction for playful yet compulsive self-reinvention, Madjidi uses it in a search for authenticity, while Alcoba's autofictional approach highlights the difficulties of dealing with traumatic memory. Issues analysed include the effects of migration on individuals and their descendants, and the writers' multiple cultural belongings and constant self-repositioning. A substantial overview is given of each author's oeuvre, along with societal context for the country of origin or descent, followed by close textual analysis. This is a companion volume to a monograph on Québec.

This book focuses on modes of cultural belonging in Québec. It looks at recent literary memoir, autobiographical fiction, and documentary testimony. Through four in-depth case studies of cultural creators, one Indigenous and three non-Indigenous, Dervila Cooke discusses multicultural and ethnically diverse society in Québec, examining current tensions, challenges, and opportunities. Works studied range from Abla Farhoud¿s first novel in 1998 to Anita Aloisiös 2022 documentary film Calliari, QC. Topics include the desire for freedom to self-ascribe and enact cultural identity, self-reinvention through fiction, expressions of Indigeneity in Naomi Fontaine, the term ¿Québécois¿, especially after Bill 21, and the thorny question of integration of immigrants, discussed in relation to Akos Verboczy¿s Rhapsodie québécoise. As with the companion volume on France, societal factors are discussed, here relating to the cultural renaissance of Indigenous writing, Farhoud¿s Libano-Québécois context, and language laws in Québec, including the foundational Bill 101 and the more recent Bill 96.