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MLRy 99.1, 2004 205 Hiddleston's study ofthe ambivalence of suicide in Hugo's fiction.This volume clearly demonstrates why Hugo's novels provide such a rich seam of interest forthe twentyfirst -century reader, yet assessment of some of his works remains surprisingly fluid: Noetinger paraphrases Richard B. Grant's judgement of L'Homme qui rit (without necessarily accepting it) as 'franchementmauvais' (p. 137), Hiddleston calls it 'Hugo's most extraordinary and hyperbolic creation' (p. 205), and Thompson proclaims it to be iechef d'oeuvrede Hugo romancier' (p. 187). A thought-provoking volume indeed! University of Liverpool Monica Nurnberg Baudelaire and theArt ofMemory. By J.A. Hiddleston. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1999. xiv + 304 pp. ?59.50. ISBN0-19-815932-3. Scholars of Baudelaire and other nineteenth-century specialists are familiar with the thoroughgoing and incisive criticism of J. A. Hiddleston, especially his work on Baudelaire's art criticism. In this book Hiddleston is at his best: the impressive erudition, the thoroughness of the documentary account, the focus and keenness of the argument, and the critical sensitivity to the Baudelairian text all mark this out as a work of genuine scholarship. Hiddleston's title foregrounds the main strands of his argument, which are that Baudelaire's art (in all its manifestations) and art for Baudelaire are connected to memory in its conception, production, and reception, and the related notion of recognition, which is inherent in the art of criticism itself. The book is organized around key essays by Baudelaire, or artists, which are conceptually framed to suggest Hiddleston's critical trajectory in this book. The Salon de 1846 stands as an emblem to Baudelaire's achievement and contradictions, and to some critical confusion that Hiddleston clarifies, at both the book's beginning and its end. The aesthetic achievement of this early Salon is carefully nuanced and developed by later writings, Hiddleston carefully shows, and key figuressuch as Delacroix, Boudin, Guys, and Manet are explored with close attention to the detail and to their aesthetic significance, and with an eye for the dangers of mere analogy. Manet's presence is important here since, by devoting a chapter to this figure, Hiddleston simultaneously recognizes his significance while foregrounding him to sound a note of caution. Hid? dleston suggestively speculates that Baudelaire's attitude to this great painter is rooted in a perception that art is in decline (generally) and that in Manet particularly there is 'a mismatch between form and medium, and content'. This is cautious speculation, justified by scholarship and principle, but there is a slight sense of disappointment that the promise of a full chapter on Manet does not give rise to more (informed) speculation. There are also chapters on the comic arts and a penetrating analysis of Baudelaire's theory of laughter that considerably adds to our understanding of these works. It is, though, in the chapter on landscape and the painting of modern life that some of the most valuable details and insightful analyses are offered. Here, as elsewhere, Hiddleston's own critical achievement mirrors Baudelaire's, and it is, perhaps, in Hiddleston's erudite symbiosis with the poet, which still manages acute critical distance, that all the power and subtlety of his scholarly arguments lie. All the more so, since what is at issue here is not simply a survey of Baudelaire's art criticism, but an evaluation of the significance and impact of this on Baudelaire's own poetic practice. The Art of Memory is an exceptional and integrating work of scholarship, and a landmark in the field. Royal Holloway, London Sonya Stephens ...

Reviewed by: Writing After Postcolonialism: Francophone North African Literature in Transition by Jane Hiddleston Alexandra Gueydan-Turek Hiddleston, Jane. Writing After Postcolonialism: Francophone North African Literature in Transition. London, Bloomsbury Academic, 2017. ISBN 9781350022799. 291 p. Situé à la frontière entre théorie, histoire et littérature, l'ouvrage de Jane Hiddleston s'interroge sur le statut de la littérature francophone au sein de la société maghrébine et ce, au jour des courants théoriques du postcolonialisme et de la littérature-monde (18). Partant du constat que l'on ne peut réduire la production livresque, voire culturelle, contemporaine du Maghreb à celle de sociétés sorties de l'expérience coloniale qui tenteraient encore de s'affranchir du carcan d'une pensée dominante occidentale, Hiddleston nous suggère de réorienter notre regard pour nous concentrer sur le rôle politique de la littérature au sein de l'État-nation, en particulier en période de frictions. Non pas qu'Hiddleston nie l'importance de l'héritage colonial mortifère et les excès qui en ont résulté, mais l'auteure plaide pour une vision dépassant les seules problématiques de la "postcolonialité" dans le contexte des mouvements de dissidences politiques qui ont traversé l'Afrique du Nord après les Indépendances (1–2). À travers son analyse de la littérature francophone nord-africaine des années 1980 jusqu'aux révoltes de 2011, Hiddleston nous invite à concevoir la création littéraire comme "a liberated and unregulated form that works outside ideology and where it is possible to imagine alternative modes of thinking" (10).3 Loin d'être une assertion naïve selon laquelle l'œuvre littéraire pourrait directement influencer le monde qui l'entoure, l'ouvrage offre un argument nuancé [End Page 194] qui emprunte à la fois au concept de littérature engagée tel qu'a pu le redéfinir Abdellatif Laâbi, à savoir un engagement à titre individuel et en dehors de tout embrigadement politique (19–20), et au concept derridien de la littérature comme espace essentiellement démocratique où fusent des voix s'autorisant à "tout dire" (21–23). Le propos introducteur se partage entre les deux premières parties de l'ouvrage avec, dans l'"Introduction," les jalons historiques de l'étude et, dans le premier chapitre, les jalons théoriques du propos. Dans l'introduction à proprement parler, Hiddleston établit le rapport dynamique existant entre l'écrivain et le contexte socio-historique et politique qui préside à son œuvre, pour penser la figure de l'intellectuel-citoyen au Maghreb. Tout en traçant les histoires distinctes de l'Algérie, du Maroc et de la Tunisie, depuis leur indépendance respective jusqu'à l'époque contemporaine, Hiddleston souligne l'évolution de la production littéraire en lien avec les mouvements de dissension qui ont marqué chacun de ces pays. Elle prête, en l'occurrence, une attention toute particulière au Printemps algérien avec son soulèvement d'octobre 1988, sa répression, et la guerre civile qui en résulta (1992–2002) ainsi qu'aux "Années de plomb" durant le règne d'Hassan II (1961–1999) au Maroc et aux régimes autoritaires d'Habib Bourguiba et de Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, jusqu'à la chute de ce dernier, suite à la révolution tunisienne de 2011. Forte de ce contexte historique, Hiddleston soutient que l'esprit de contestation et les discours d'opposition qui caractérisaient le mouvement de la littérature dite "anticoloniale" n'ont pas disparu avec celle-ci. Et, en dépit de la posture de plus en plus esthétique qu'adopte la littérature maghrébine contemporaine—posture qui lui permet de se démarquer de la littérature de combat qui l'a précédée—Hiddleston argue que celle-ci n'en demeure pas moins profondément contestataire, et que l'élaboration et la pratique de nouvelles formes d'écriture renforcent l'expression du drame de sociétés en crise (17). Sous l'intitulé "Postcolonialisme, littérature-monde, et les Mille et une nuits,"4 le chapitre inaugural poursuit la r...

MLR, I03. I, 2008 247 certain knowledge of the past and of the other. This is a beautifully written book, whose painstakingly precise and loving attention toResnais's filmsshines through in every paragraph. It offers a valuably contemporary reappraisal of Resnais's career, and should find awide readership among students and researchers of his cinema. UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM KATE INCE Assia Djebar-Out ofAlgeria. By JANEHIDDLESTON. (Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures, 6) Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. 2oo6. vi+ 192 pp. /40. ISBN 978-I-8463I-031-7. JaneHiddleston's Assia Djebar-Out ofAlgeria is an impressive overview of the li teraryoutput of one ofAlgeria's most prolificwriters. She traces thedevelopment of Djebar's work from itsearliest stages tohermost recent publications, and this study is the firstof itskind to devote itselfentirely to the 'changing trajectory' (pp. io-i i) ofDjebar's fiction. This study explores the 'expatriation' (p. i) that theauthor claims isever-present in Djebar's novels. She argues convincingly thatAlgeria isultimately a lostnotion, one which Djebar has attempted toharness and conceptualize throughout herwriting ca reer,butwhich has continually haunted and eluded her.One ofHiddleston's principal arguments is thatAlgeria is an ever-changing geographical, historical, and linguistic concept thatescapes any secure, singular definition. It is inherentlyplural, and renders Djebar's quest fora trulysatisfyingway ofwriting her people, her nation, and itshis tory increasingly problematic. Clearly defined theorization or categorization becomes impossible in a nation thathas fallenvictim tovarious occupations-both colonial and more recently Islamic-and which has been ravaged bywar, torture,and oppression to such an extent thatany true,singular Algeria no longer exists. Suitably, Hiddleston combines historical and contextual overviews with detailed analysis and interpreta tion of Djebar's novels in order to demonstrate this 'plurality' (p. i6), effectively conveying how expressing the authentic (female) Algerian voice becomes an enigma. The author draws on European philosophy and theory in order to demonstrate simultaneously its relevance and its limitationswith regard to theAlgeria thatDjebar has sought to portray. For instance, Hiddleston argues thatDjebar's depictions of Algeria illustrate both theFoulcauldian theory of societal influence and Derrida and Nancy's 'disseminated subject'. This theoretical approach also highlights Djebar's problematic position as a writer. Educated and writing in French, Djebar is at the crossroads between her country and itscolonizer. Her writing ispeppered with Euro pean philosophical and literaryreferencesbut also with the rhythmsand connotations ofBerber, Arab, and Islamic voices. Thus, Hiddleston goes togreat lengths toexplore furtherDjebar's troubled and uncomfortable relationship with the country ofwhich shewrites, arguing thatAlgeria is actually an excluding force forher (p. i). The work isdivided into fivechapters, each examining a particular period inDje bar's output.Writing Algeria, at first,isviewed with an optimism thatgradually fades asDjebar's fictionunfolds and she becomes more and more politicized. Djebar's im plicit references to the theories ofDerrida, Camus, and Irigaray, among others, serve only toproblematize increasingly her uncomfortable position in relation toher native country. One of the strengths of the study is its lucid engagement with postcolonial theory and theway in which ithighlights the limitations of such a theoretical frameworkwhen facedwith the case ofAlgeria. Drawing on European philosophical thought in relation toDjebar's novels, Hiddleston argues, for instance, that the notion of 'postcolonial individuation' (p. 3) that currently dominates postcolonial thought is incompatible 248 Reviews with theAlgeria thatDjebar seeks to represent, since Algeria is, in essence, an un graspable force and one thatshould not, perhaps cannot, be theorized so rigidly.One possible criticism is the reluctance to engage with Djebar's filmcareer,which would have furtherunderpinned the arguments regarding the difficulties ofmaintaining a culturally authentic voice through themedium of the colonial language. However, this is an omission that is addressed by the author and is a possible field for further enquiry. This study constitutes an indispensable resource for scholars and students alike with an interest inDjebar or, indeed, Algerian postcolonial literature generally. SWANSEA UNIVERSITY SOPHIE SMITH Annie Ernaux: 'La Place' and 'La Honte'. By ALISON S. FELL. (Critical Guides to French Texts, 140) London: Grant & Cutler. 2oo6. 85 pp. ?7.95. ISBN 978 0-7293-0449-8. As Alison Fell notes in her introduction to this critical guide, a particular aspect of Ernaux's ceuvre is itsevolution as a series of...