Un divan pour en finir avec l'absence ou le temps retrouv dans la littrature algrienne

The writings of Algerian writers have long been characterised by the emergence in many different forms of a missing reality, which is expressed in terms of a more or less painful absence. This article highlights those categories and objects that are most marked by this absence as necessary motifs, designed to define an interrelated field and discourse, which linked their personal project to the contentious issues of history and culture, in both colonial and postcolonial periods. By way of a critical examination of the narrative forms and literary genres adopted and then deconstructed by these writers, the author traces back their literary genealogies and discovers that the motif of absence is also present in an ancient generic form which the writers were attempting to rediscover, i.e. the divan. The divan, a legacy of their oriental literary heritage, aims to throw light upon aspects of existence and then bring order to this knowledge. In the openness and flexibility of this genre, it is possible to discern the power of the interconnections between the numerous voices and possibilities engaging the first two generations of Algerian writers. As is shown by recent developments in the literatures of Algeria, the divan appears to have calmed the temporal malaise by releasing the power of motifs which now travel across time as well as space and link with each other according to the impulse of desire and happiness, rather than absence, which is now in the process of becoming a distant memory. At the same time, the article shows why these divan-texts are often difficult and inaccessible and how an easier reading may be achieved.