Discussion Questions for Fantasia by Assia Djebar

The following sample English critical analysis is 367 words long, in MLA format, and written at the undergraduate level. It has been downloaded 761 times and is available for you to use, free of charge.

Discussion Questions

Question One: The author of the text, Assia Djebar, originally wrote this novel in French—the language of the colonizers in her native Algeria. What is the impact of reading a translation of a text in which language and expression of one’s voice so often signify power in the novel? Isn't a matter of literary preservation? Does the fact that we are reading this in an English translation matter to our experience of the book?

Response: I think that the fact that Djebar wrote this novel in French, the language of her oppressors, signifies her equality to the colonizers who often looked down upon those they colonized. While some may think that she is submissive by using the language of the colonizers, instead I think this is a subversive attempt to show that she can not only use their formal language, but she can create a work of art with it. I believe that Djebar’s writing and her narrative is so strong in this book that it does not matter if we are reading an English translation. However, I do think it is important to mention and acknowledge the fact that it was originally published in the French language.

Question 2: What is the significance of the title of the book? What is “Fantasia” and how is this relevant to the text?

Question 3: Many of the chapters in this book switch from one narrator to another and it is up to the reader to determine who is speaking. How does this affect or relate to the theme of identity throughout the book? How do various characters represented by Djebar complicate the notion of identity?

Question 4: Is it important for readers of Fantasia to know about the author’s biography and the history of colonization of Algeria to properly interpret the text? Most readers assume that this novel is semi-autobiographical, but without knowing the author’s background, do our perceptions and impressions of the various narratives change at all? Finally, does the gender of the author influence the reading of Fantasia? Should we consider this a feminist text?

Work Cited

Djebar, Assia. Blair, Dorothy S., tr. Fantasia: An Algerian Cavalcade. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1993. Print.