Female lead characters as examples of Bildungsroman heroines in 'L'Amour, la fantasia' by Assia Djebar and 'Les Yeux baisses' by Tahar Ben Jelloun

This thesis presents two Maghrebian novels written in French that share aspects of the Bildungsroman tradition. This reading via the lens of the Bildungsroman underscores the importance of the choice of a young female central character. The novels are subjected to a close reading that focuses on the female characters as they journey towards adulthood. The first novel, Assia Djebar's L'Amour, la fantasia, chronicles the story of Djebar's upbringing interspersed with stories depicting Algeria's colonial history. The second novel, Les Yeux baisses by Tahar Ben Jelloun, focuses on a young female immigrant coming-of-age while coping with the in-betweenness created by her migration. These contemporary novels are shown to be examples of an evolved genre that utilizes elements of the Bildungsroman. Despite being part of a new novel form these French-language Maghrebian novels have adapted the symbolic nature of the traditional Bildungsroman genre.