Tunisian Literature and the Language Question: The Long View of a Recurring Debate

This paper traces the life and afterlife of Tunisia's literary avant-garde ( al-tali’a al-adabiyya), which thrived between 1968 and 1972. Al-tali’a sought to ‘revolutionize’ literary language and to root Tunisian literature in the multilingual environment and social reality of the country, at a crucial period of social and political change and against the backdrop of a Leftist turn in local dissident politics. Al-tali’a sought to complete the process of language and literary decolonization in intersection with key global tendencies, including Tiermondisme and decoloniality. The language question was articulated, then as in post-2011 Tunisia, in terms of democracy and justice. While the state promoted fostering Tunisianness as state policy, there were other takes on this concept that were progressive, more deeply decolonial and justice-driven. This paper uncovers the genesis of the movement through the work of Izzeddine al-Madani in drama and Tahar Hammami, among others, in fiction and poetry.