Oldal 33 [33]
THE POLITICS AND POETICS OF LANGUAGE USE
“Semitic”,?” “the Arabian man”, “(the famous) Oriental”,?” “the Arab”, “the
young Arab”, “the Muhammadan”,?° “Mon Exotique”,?! “the Levantine, [...]
the figure of the Parisian Oriental as he appeared on certain cigarette packets
in corner stores.”” His Muslim identity is also implied when Molineu offers
him a drink and stresses that it is “sans alcool totalement.”** On the other hand,
in Nablus he is nicknamed “the Parisian.” His alterity simultaneously troubles
and thrills him:
[H]e experienced a rare moment of self-perception. He felt his presence from the
outside, not only in space, but also in time. In a flash he saw this part he played for
the men of Nablus as a kind of inverse of his persona in Paris—the part he used to
play for women. He was always marked by his difference. Many times during
courtships he had even purposely weakened his French—which was then near
fluent—and found he could play with ease the sweet buffoon and at the same time
retain the glamour of hiddenness. There was always some kernel hidden in the folds,
some mystery to long for. He could feel it again now, that double view.**
The bilingual title thus also alludes to Midhat’s feeling of having a double
identity and being always somewhat out of place, as well as his inability to
“translate himself from French into Arabic”** once back in Nablus. It is inter¬
esting to note that Midhat’s sense of alterity is very often language-related.
Therefore, it would be worthwhile to investigate more systematically how
Midhat’s otherness is constructed, and possibly deconstructed, by means of
code-switches and relexifications as well as metalinguistic comments. Due to
space limitations, I will suffice here with just a couple of examples, one of them
being when Midhat inadvertently speaks Arabic instead of French and then
corrects himself: “‘Ah, merci,’ said Midhat to the maid as she presented the
D
a
Ibid., 43. This is actually how Jeannette thinks how her father would describe Midhat’s features.
Her musings while observing Midhat form a distance complicate Midhat’s presumed otherness:
“He could have been European from this distance; the coppery tone of his face, and his dark
brow and eyes-these were the only signs that he was what her father would call “Semitic.” If
she hadn’t known she might have guessed he was Italian.”
2 Ibid 53.
27 Tbid., 55, 81.
28 Ibid 83. Notice that this description is given by the narrative voice, capturing Frédéric’s
thoughts: “Frédéric led Patrice in to the blue salon and saw them through the glass, his daugh¬
ter and the Arab.”
29 Ibid 84.
30 Ibid 92.
31 Ibid., 155. Capitals original.
52 Ibid., 158. This describes the way Midhat thinks he is perceived by Jeannette.
33 Tbid., 11.
34 Ibid., 333.
Afikra, Interview.
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