“Par un trou dans le mur”. Memoria degli avi e quête identitaria in Fadela M’Rabet, Nina Bouraoui e Igiaba Scego

The narration of the origins and the reconstruction of the family past represent a significant trend in the contemporary novel, as witnessed by the success of the family saga novel, the family memoir and the récit de filiation in the fictional production of recent decades. This phenomenon is not limited to the strictly European context but can also be observed in border territories as that of migration literature, in which family memory often has to deal with a colonial past. This article aims to reflect on these issues through a comparative reading of three novels by Fadéla M’Rabet (Une enfance singulière, 2003), Nina Bouraoui (Mes mauvaises pensées, 2005), and Igiaba Scego (La mia casa è dove sono, 2010). The quest for identity of these contemporary Afro-European women writers passes through the memorial recovery of a distant time (that of childhood and ancestors) and space (the country of origins), whose traces survive not only in memory but in their life choices and in their bodies.