Psychological Repression in Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire (1946) and Malika Mokeddem’s La Nuit de la Lézarde (1998)

Abstract

This dissertation is an attempt to study the influence of the American playwright Tennessee’s play A Streetcar Named Desire (1946) on the Algerian novelist Malika Mokeddem’s novel La Nuit de la Lézarde (1998). Our purpose in this piece of research is to shed light on the representation of repression in both works. Throughout our study, we have borrowed some concepts of Sigmund Freud’s theory on Repression. For the purpose of relevance; we have also borrowed some concepts from Harold Bloom’s theory of influence developed in The Anxiety of Influence (1973). Our study reveals a noticeable influence of Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire on Malika Mokeddem’s novel La Nuit de la Lézarde despite the fact one is a play the second is a novel. Our interest in comparing Tennessee Williams and Malika Mokeddem, though distant in geography, culture and language stems from Mokeddem’s recognition of her reading of the American literature. It also comes from the striking biographical background shared by both authors.