03 - 452ºF

0. Introduction
In this paper I want to explore the idea of métissage – a kind of
intertextuality – as it’s been theorized by Françoise Lionnet (1989)
through a close reading of Le Cow-boy (1983), an autobiographical
novel by Djanet Lachmet about the Algerian Revolution (1954 – 1962).
Lionnet describes métissage as a textual weaving of traditions in
order to reintroduce oral Creole customs and to re-evaluate received
Western concepts. The term implies the process of creolization (from
the French word «métis», referring to persons of racially-mixed blood).
It is etymologically linked to «tissage», the French for «weaving»,
and provides a metaphor for the construction of narratives. Besides
being a concept, métissage is also a praxis and a site of purposeful
ambiguity: «Métissage is […] the site of undecidability and
indeterminacy, where solidarity becomes the fundamental principle
of political action against hegemonic languages» (Lionnet, 1989: 6).
The term thus carefully links issues of race, politics, reading and
writing. Described by literary critics Mohammed Tabti and Christiane
Achour as autobiographical or as a life-story, Djanet Lachmet’s only
novel was published in France by Pierre Belfond in 1983 (see Tabti,
2001, Achour and Ali-Benali, 1991). Not much is known about the
author—the reverse side of her book states only that she was born
in Algeria and lives in Paris. She is described by Michel Laronde as
part of the «Mouvance beure», originating in Paris (698). After a bit
of research, I also discovered that she is an actor who starred in
independent films like L’Autre France (1975), directed by Algerian
film director Ali Ghalem. The novel was translated into English by
Judith Still and published under the title Lallia in 1987. While the
translation brought the book to a wider readership, Still has been
criticized for her translation; especially her decision to convert the
narrative’s present tense into a series of confusing past tenses. For
this reason, the translations I provided here are my own. Le Cow-boy
is told in a mixture of first and third-person voices and describes the
anguishes and difficulties of an Algerian girl confronted with racism,
class tensions and the cruelties of war. The title of the novel implies
the overarching plot – a Romeo and Juliet theme – in which an
Algerian Muslim girl loves a French boy, nicknamed the «Cowboy».
Their young love does not end with their double suicide, however,
but is doomed by the madness of the war around them, the loyalties
mandated by their families and the multiple factions of the armed
nationalist movement. Written in French prose, Lachmet’s novel
reels from childhood memories to love letters to wild hallucinations
to ancestral tales. The youthful voice of the protagonist describes her
tumultuous childhood in exuberant run-on sentences in the present
tense, rupturing the narrative with flashbacks and abrupt scene
changes. It is clear from the beginning of the story that Lallia has
a tenuous relationship with her parents and sister—especially with
«Je suis un cowboy du Far West»: A study of textual métissage in Djanet Lachmet’s autobiographical novel Le Cow-boy (1983) - Caroline Kelley
452ºF. #03 (2010) 85-101.
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