Yamina Méchakra's La Grotte éclatée: An Expression of a Feminine View of War

The twentieth century and the onset of the subsequent century were molded by all kinds of conflicts; hence, depictions of war have turned into a burning issue in the realm of literary studies. Algeria, the former French colony, fought from 1954 to 1962 to gain its independence. This long, brutal battle had a relatively high death toll. Algerian literature constantly reflects the pains and sufferings of a nation struggling in the post-colonial era to break free from the clutters of French colonial rule. This study endeavors to analyze war as it is represented in Yamina Méchakra’s “La Grotte éclatée” (The Shattered Cave). Penned by a woman, this narrative employs the techniques of polyphony and polysemy to shed light on aspects of war that have been largely neglected by male authors, while other aspects have been omitted by them altogether. This paper shows, furthermore, that a multitude of discourses, each of which reflects an ideology, are embedded in this novel.