چکیده:
Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt et Nasser Ghalamkari, deux écrivains contemporains revisitent les problématiques de leurs époques par une réflexion sur la figure de l’immigré, qui est capturé entre deux cultures et deux pays, victime des forces qui le dépassent et soumis à un voyage plein d’épreuves comme celui d’Ulysse. L’itinéraire du voyage forcé des personnages de Schmitt et de Ghalamkari décrit l’histoire de l’errance en vue d’atteindre la terre promise. Le décryptage des récits de voyage de l’immigré dans ces deux romans montre les étapes de déracinement socioculturel chez les deux héros qui s’engagent dans la voie des voyages initiatiques, comme expressions symboliques de leurs transformations. Comment les personnages surmontent-ils l’épreuve de cette quête identitaire au cours de ce voyage ? Les deux œuvres deviennent un vaste territoire à explorer à travers l’itinéraire du voyage des deux héros du Moyen-Orient, en proie à l’absence d’identité, qui commencent un voyage à la recherche du bonheur. Cette recherche nous permet d’analyser comment ce voyage bouleverse les repères du migrant et favorise la perte d’identité chez l’un des protagonistes ou l’émergence d’une identité chez l’autre. En étudiant les étapes de leur voyage, d’après la théorie de Campbell, critique jungien, nous essaierons de montrer le processus d’individuation au cours de ce voyage pour les héros de Schmitt et de Ghalamkari.
— اریک امانويل اشمیت و ناصر قلمکاری دو نویسنده معاصر با تعمق بر پدیده مهاجرت به بررسی مسايل جامعه خود پرداختهاند. فرد
در اثر مهاجرت در معرض تقابل بینافرهنگی قرار میگیرد، مهاجر قربانی شرایط سخت و تحملناپذیر زندگی است و به اجبار تن به مسافرتی
پر از ازمونهای اودیسهوار میدهد. مسیر این سفر تحمیلی برای شخصیتهای اشمیت و قلمکاری توصیفگر داستان سرگشتگی برای رسیدن
به سرزمین موعود است. رمزگشایی از این سفرنامههای مهاجرت گسستگی اجتماعی- فرهنگی قهرمانان را به تصویر میکشد، این سفر
شهودی بیانی نمادین از مراحل تحول شخصیتها میباشد. چگونه قهرمانان در چالش هویتیابی، ازمونهای این سفر را پشت سر میگذارند؟
هر دو اثر بستری گسترده برای مطالعهی مسیر سفر دو قهرمان از خاورمیانه را فراهم میکند که سفری برای جستجوی خوشبختی را اغاز
میکنند و در این بین هویت انان در معرض بحران قرار میگیرد. این مطالعه به ما اجازه میدهد تا بررسی کنیم چگونه این سفر الگوهای
زندگی مهاجران را تغییر داده و منجر به از دست رفتن هویت در یکی از شخصیتها و بازیافتن هویت در دیگری میشود. با مطالعهی مراحل
سفر انان بر مبنای تيوری جوزف کمبل منتقد یونگی، سعی بر ان خواهیم داشت که روند فردیت گرایی قهرمانان اشمیت و قلمکاری را نشان
دهیم.
Literature mirrors the human dimension of immigration and reflects the
consequences of crossing geographical and cultural boundaries. This spatial and cultural displacement
from the original country and the effort to join a receiving culture or country can result in a conflict
between the immigrant and the host society. No one could deny the world’s migrant crisis as we are
witnessing waves of immigrants, who are seeking opportunities to start a whole new life somewhere
new. No doubt to stress the voyage the immigration has to set out on, which looks arduous and has many
ups and downs. The immigrant, who had already experienced poor living conditions in home country,
has no choice but to succumb to pressures induced from a long journey full of challenges and obstacles.
Challenges lying in wait for the immigrant may target his/her body and at times his/her soul. On
occasions, the person may encounter intercultural conflicts, and consequently loses his/her identity or
may meet his/her lost self in an unknown path. Meanwhile, authors who are concerned with social issues
may consider immigrants as the hero of their writings. They travel with them and surmount the obstacles
after the other. The Franco–Belgian playwright, short story writer and novelist, Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt,
and the Iranian contemporary author, Naser Ghalamkari, are a perfect example of these authors. Drawing
deeply on the issue of immigration, these writers have discussed the problems and issues structuring
their home society. Their stories have laid grounds for studying the travel of two heroes from the Middle
East, who are looking for happiness. This voyage nevertheless leads to identity crisis for them. The
journey of these characters in Schmitt and Ghalamkari’s works is a representation of arriving at the
promised land. These travelogues demonstrate socio-cultural discontinuity and evidence diverse stages
of development among the characters. Throughout these internal and external travels, the heroes have
undergone various tests and trials.
The analysis of these stages could offer insights into the process of identity and the challenge of
identification. In his Ulysse from Bagdad, Schmitt beautifully writes about immigration and finds fault
with the European Union immigration policy. This novel tells the story of a young Iraqi named Saad
Saad who leaves his country in pursuit of happiness somewhere new, comparable to that of Ulysses in
the Odyssey. Without a single penny in his pocket, Saad initiates his journey and passes obstacles ahead
of him to find himself in the promised land. The same story can be seen in Ghalamkari’s Visit in Kuala
Lumpur where Ghazal and Behzad are the protagonists. They embarked on an adventure into an
unknown world to find pleasure and happiness across frontiers. The present work is an attempt to examine how this travel has brought about new changes into the life habits of immigrants, resulting in identity loss in one character and identity formation in the other. The analysis is guided with Joseph Campbell’s Theory. Campbell made heavy use of Carl Jung’s theories and introduced his hero’s journey or the monomyth. He is of the view that all protagonists who embark on an adventure should deal with the same seventeen stages, including three acts: departure, initiation and return. All the stages may not be available during the travel or may follow a different order. The first stage, departure, concerns the protagonist’s life in the ordinary world with no trouble. Out of the blue, he comes across a problem and challenge, which can be a call to go on an adventure. The protagonist is reluctant to leave his known world and is afraid of an unknown world, hence he declines the request. He soon realizes that he has to leave the known world and gets over the fear as he may be destined for failure. He therefore accepts the call and delves into this adventure. He is not lonely and can be helped by a mentor figure. The wise old man helps this along and gives him a spell to overcome the obstacles ahead of him. With the help of the wise man, he shoots across the guard ahead of him and he passes the first threshold. This is last area that he is familiar with and after crossing it, he enters the unknown world. The belly of the whale is the next stage wherein the protagonists symbolically dies and then must be reborn. The initiation phase is a road of trials and the hero must undergo a series of tests. He successfully completes this stage with the guides of the wise man. One of the trails is temptress, which acts as a symbol for the physical or material temptations of life. The protagonist, who is determined to reach his ultimate destination surpasses the temptations. The meeting with the goddess, which is the symbol of beauty and yearning is another trail, that should be passed. In one step, the hero confronts his father. Father implies the hardest test as the protagonist is not only afraid of the father but also has a faith that the father is merciful. The protagonist endures the crisis and reconciles with him. Having passed all these complicated tests, the protagonist reaches the ultimate boon in which the hero achieves limitless bounty or indestructible life. Any protagonist, as Campbell adds, should pass through these stages, and the protagonists of the present novels are no exception to this rule. They have suffered from countless shortcomings in their societies and are pushed into an unexpected journey. Iraq’s problems during Saddam Hussein’s ruling plunge Saad into this adventure. On the other hand, Behzad and Ghazal have no choice but to leave the country as a result of the oppressive society. As expected by Campbell, the protagonist might initially be unwilling to begin an adventure but he accepts to go on a journey and faces the guard of the first threshold. The Red Sea and Jakarta International Airport act as the first threshold in Saad’s story and that of Behzad and Ghazal. Crossing this threshold which separates the known world from the unknown frightens the protagonists but they successfully achieve it. They receive help and deus ex machina and it is the soul of Saad’s father who helps him, and Ghazal and Behzad receive help from God. In the last stage, the protagonists are swallowed into the belly of the whale and subsequently move into a sphere of rebirth. This is represented in both stories as Saad and Ghazal are drowned in the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean, respectively. Yet, they managed to scramble back to life. Next, the temptress tries to lead them to abandon or stray from their quest. Ghazal is in pursuit of an easy life in Australia but for Sad, temptress is an Italian woman who promises him happiness.
Be that as it may, the heroes pursue their goals and meet the goddess. Saad finds his love Leyla, and Ghazal finds Helen, her travel companion, as a perfect and true Goddess. At last, all the heroes reach their final destination. They are no longer who they used to be in the early stage of their voyage. Although the protagonist, who was in pursuit of his identity, finds the identity, the hero who was looking for happiness loses it. Saad realizes that hope and happiness reside at him not somewhere else. Ghazal abandons all her identity, past and even her name. She chooses a new name and pursues a new goal. As indicated before, the present study explores diverse stages of the hero’s journey and how the hero looks for his identity. The existing literature has so far focused on the success and failure of the heroes in passing the stages of the voyage. In this investigation, two new novels, with a similar theme on immigration, were comparatively analyzed and discussed.