Processing the Revolution: Exploring the Ways Tunisian Novels Reflect Political Upheavals

Abstract

Zusammenfassung Several years after the Tunisian uprising of 2010–11, it is now time to explore the literary production of its aftermath. This chapter focuses on novels written in French and Arabic that have found acclaim in the Tunisian literary scene, all of them winners of the Tunisian prize for fiction, the Prix Comar d’Or. At the same time, the works deal in some way with the uprising of 2010/2011. This starting point allows various insights: First, it compares the novels, exploring trends such as autobiographic reflections and the turn to past revolutions. Secondly, the chapter asks more structural questions about the context of the novels’ production (authors, publishers) as well as about their honorary reception through literary awards. Beyond characterizing the post-revolutionary Tunisian literary scene, this approach also makes it possible to address the ways in which the Tunisian literary establishment wants the revolutionary events to be reworked in literature.