Nationalism in Sefrioui's Le chapelet d'ambre and in Aquin's Prochain épisode

Abstract

What really arouses our curiosity and interest in comparing two authors belonging to two markedly different civilizations is not so much their milieux, as many might expect, as the literary art with which they express their feelings and ideas. Ahmed Sefrioui is Moroccan while Hubert Aquin is Québécois. Sefrioui is little known in Canada, which is why it is expedient to provide the following biographical notice. Sefrioui was born in 1915 in Fez and is still living. He went to the Koranic school, then to French school, and finally to the bilingual High school, Moulay Idriss. After having practised his French at different jobs, he became involved, from 1943 to 1945, in writing for periodicals, was subsequently assistant director at the Musée du Batha in Fez, and eventually held an important post in the Service des Monuments Historiques in Rabat, working as well for the Ministère des Affaires culturelles. Le chapelet d'ambre, the autobiographical novel that will be subjected to comparative analysis in this thesis, was published in Paris in 1949. […]Aquin is a Québécois writer who, with intensely nationalistic feelings, exbibits a passionate commitment to political action – a commitment that was absent from Sefrioui's life. Aquin was born in Montréal. He went to the École Olier, then to the Collège Sainte-Marie, and finally to the Université de Montréal, where be received an M.A. degree in Philosopby. He subsequently worked as an announcer for Radio-Canada and wrote plays and film scripts for the National Film Board. He also studied for three years at the Institut d'études politiques in Paris. Furthermore, he was a journalist, a novelist, and was involved in many cultural activities. Prochain épisode, his autobiograpbical novel that we bave chosen to compare to Le chapelet d'ambre, was published in 1965. Besides this novel, Aquin published Trou de mémoire, L'antiphonaire, and Neige noire, none of which achieved the popularity of Prochain épisode.