Reimagining the Bildungsroman : Exploring the “Third Space” in Azouz Begag’s Le gone du Chaâba and Fouad Laroui’s Une année chez les Français

Sara Mechkarini

doi:10.1080/17409292.2025.2590359

Reimagining the Bildungsroman : Exploring the “Third Space” in Azouz Begag’s Le gone du Chaâba and Fouad Laroui’s Une année chez les Français

Sara Mechkarini

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

11 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This paper examines the appropriation of the Bildungsroman genre in Azouz Begag’s Le gone du Chaâba (1986) and Fouad Laroui’s Une année chez les Français (2010). These novels trace the transformative journeys of two gifted yet underprivileged boys as they break through the barriers of poverty and racism, succeed at school, and show promise for the future. The narratives in both novels primarily unfold in two distinct settings: the home, depicted as a peripheral and under-resourced space, and the school, where each young protagonist is introduced to French culture and language. The central challenge confronting these characters lies in negotiating the social and cultural disparities between their family life, symbolizing their ethnic origins and heritage, and their school life, emblematic of their identity as French citizens. This paper will analyze how these two novels appropriate and reinterpret the traditional Bildungsroman, particularly by deviating from its conventions through the creation of a “third space”.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	882-903
Number of pages	22
Journal	Contemporary French and Francophone Studies
Volume	29
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/17409292.2025.2590359
Publication status	Published - 20 Oct 2025

Bibliographical note

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use,distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered,transformed, or built upon in any way.

Keywords

Beur fiction
French school
Postcolonial Bildungsroman
hybrid identities
racism
third space

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Cultural Studies
History
Visual Arts and Performing Arts
Literature and Literary Theory

Access to Document

10.1080/17409292.2025.2590359Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

ReimaginingFinal published version, 1.05 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

@article{ab63414969a2456a9c2e71e5a4960f7e,

title = "Reimagining the Bildungsroman : Exploring the “Third Space” in Azouz Begag{\textquoteright}s Le gone du Cha{\^a}ba and Fouad Laroui{\textquoteright}s Une ann{\'e}e chez les Fran{\c c}ais",

abstract = "This paper examines the appropriation of the Bildungsroman genre in Azouz Begag{\textquoteright}s Le gone du Cha{\^a}ba (1986) and Fouad Laroui{\textquoteright}s Une ann{\'e}e chez les Fran{\c c}ais (2010). These novels trace the transformative journeys of two gifted yet underprivileged boys as they break through the barriers of poverty and racism, succeed at school, and show promise for the future. The narratives in both novels primarily unfold in two distinct settings: the home, depicted as a peripheral and under-resourced space, and the school, where each young protagonist is introduced to French culture and language. The central challenge confronting these characters lies in negotiating the social and cultural disparities between their family life, symbolizing their ethnic origins and heritage, and their school life, emblematic of their identity as French citizens. This paper will analyze how these two novels appropriate and reinterpret the traditional Bildungsroman, particularly by deviating from its conventions through the creation of a “third space”.",

keywords = "Beur fiction, French school, Postcolonial Bildungsroman, hybrid identities, racism, third space",

author = "Sara Mechkarini",

note = "This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use,distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered,transformed, or built upon in any way. ",

year = "2025",

month = oct,

day = "20",

doi = "10.1080/17409292.2025.2590359",

language = "English",

volume = "29",

pages = "882--903",

journal = "Contemporary French and Francophone Studies",

issn = "1740-9292",

publisher = "Taylor and Francis",

number = "5",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Reimagining the Bildungsroman : Exploring the “Third Space” in Azouz Begag’s Le gone du Chaâba and Fouad Laroui’s Une année chez les Français

AU - Mechkarini, Sara

N1 - This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use,distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered,transformed, or built upon in any way.

PY - 2025/10/20

Y1 - 2025/10/20

N2 - This paper examines the appropriation of the Bildungsroman genre in Azouz Begag’s Le gone du Chaâba (1986) and Fouad Laroui’s Une année chez les Français (2010). These novels trace the transformative journeys of two gifted yet underprivileged boys as they break through the barriers of poverty and racism, succeed at school, and show promise for the future. The narratives in both novels primarily unfold in two distinct settings: the home, depicted as a peripheral and under-resourced space, and the school, where each young protagonist is introduced to French culture and language. The central challenge confronting these characters lies in negotiating the social and cultural disparities between their family life, symbolizing their ethnic origins and heritage, and their school life, emblematic of their identity as French citizens. This paper will analyze how these two novels appropriate and reinterpret the traditional Bildungsroman, particularly by deviating from its conventions through the creation of a “third space”.

AB - This paper examines the appropriation of the Bildungsroman genre in Azouz Begag’s Le gone du Chaâba (1986) and Fouad Laroui’s Une année chez les Français (2010). These novels trace the transformative journeys of two gifted yet underprivileged boys as they break through the barriers of poverty and racism, succeed at school, and show promise for the future. The narratives in both novels primarily unfold in two distinct settings: the home, depicted as a peripheral and under-resourced space, and the school, where each young protagonist is introduced to French culture and language. The central challenge confronting these characters lies in negotiating the social and cultural disparities between their family life, symbolizing their ethnic origins and heritage, and their school life, emblematic of their identity as French citizens. This paper will analyze how these two novels appropriate and reinterpret the traditional Bildungsroman, particularly by deviating from its conventions through the creation of a “third space”.

KW - Beur fiction

KW - French school

KW - Postcolonial Bildungsroman

KW - hybrid identities

KW - racism

KW - third space

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105027183700

U2 - 10.1080/17409292.2025.2590359

DO - 10.1080/17409292.2025.2590359

M3 - Article

SN - 1740-9292

VL - 29

SP - 882

EP - 903

JO - Contemporary French and Francophone Studies

JF - Contemporary French and Francophone Studies

IS - 5

ER -

Reimagining the Bildungsroman : Exploring the “Third Space” in Azouz Begag’s Le gone du Chaâba and Fouad Laroui’s Une année chez les Français

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this