Abstract

This thesis studies two Algerian novels of French expression, Nedjma (1956) by Kateb Yacine
and What the day owes the night (2008) by Yasmina Khadra. Both works are about colonial
Algeria. A story of passion, a love story between a man and a woman, a story of shared love by
several men for the same woman, and finally, a story of love for a country in emergence, on path
to national emancipation: such are the themes. This love for a woman and for a homeland
expresses itself through characters who aim to be often carriers of sociological and political
ideals. The characters in these novels bear a social discourse; they reflect on a changing world
and their visions are often the echo of a torn society. Relationships break down, friendships fade,
a country gains its independence and love is the only hope perhaps still possible.

What interests us more particularly are the possible meanings of the love polygons that
are present in the novels Nedjma and What the day owes the night. The question we might ask
ourselves is: “What do these love polygons mean for the characters, and what do they mean from
a sociocritical perspective”? Our hypothesis is that each of the characters in the novels under
study would be a possible representation of the Algerian people and of its contradictions in the
colonial context.
We will answer our problem by using some key concepts: sociological criticism as
developed by Dominique Maingueneau; an in-depth study of the novel character relying on
Georg Lukacs; and the notion of polyphony as defined by Mikhaïl Bakhtine. It is by studying the
characters and making a sociocritical analysis of our two novels that we will be able to make our
books “talk”, to see what they already say and to interpret them in a rigorous way.