ABSTRACT
As a Franco-Algerian living in France, Fatima Gallaire, like other writers poised at the crossroads and in the crossfire of two cultures, turns to writing as a constructive means of filling the glaring void in her existence: Algeria (Déjeux, 1992, p. 6). In those plays that depict Maghrebi society, Gallaire’s identity ink (“l’encre de l’identité”) is unmistakable as it joins the French encre as ink to its homophonic partner ancre as anchor (Begag and Chaouite, 1990, pp. 98-103). However, despite its provisional stability, the identity anchor is also felt as a burdensome weight:
I’ve always felt it, present and weighing down on my shoulders, this Middle Ages that I’ve carried with me everywhere, carefully protecting it in France. It’s a constant presence, terrifying and familiar, which forbids any desire to forget.
