Project: A book on cross-cultural and trans-national writings of French expression from France and The Maghreb. By reading French writers in relation to Maghrebian and Beur writers—who, until now, have been examined in a compartmentalized fashion—the book will shed new light on the contemporary debate on post-colonial literature, which is often politically reductionist. An underlying premise of this study is that questions of political oppression and ideological totalitarianism are initially implanted "in the relation that each subject has with his language and culture, and with that which goes beyond them" (Guy Scarpetta). By examining the ethical underpinnings of the poetics of Albert Camus, Jean Sénac, Leïla Sebbar, Rachid Mimouni, Driss Chraïbi, Assia Djebar, Anna Gréki and others, this book will demonstrate how contemporary manifestations of nationalism, fundamentalism and terrorism essentially deny a person his or her language, culture, identity—and life.