Memory in images: the reconstruction of history in comics “Un maillot pour l’Algérie”
Abstract
Today, images are one of the preferred support media of modern culture, particularly among younger generations. Comic strips, as a figurative art form, present themselves as interesting means of reviewing the past and developing a historical knowledge, especially when it comes to complex events such as the Algerian War. It is in this context that we propose to examine how comic strips are seizing upon history, as an example through a case entitled ''Un maillot pour l’Algérie'' (A Jersey for Algeria, 2016), an album co-written by two French scriptwriters, Bertrand Galic and Kris, and illustrated by the Spanish artist Javi Rey. This comic strip relives a well-known episode in Algerian history: the creation of the first national football team in 1958 by the National Liberation Front and the Federation of Algerians in France. It's a unprecedented revolutionary epic in which sport transcends the boundaries of a simple game to embrace a population's collective struggle fighting for independence.
Through an interdisciplinary approach combining semiological, narrative, and sociohistorical tools, we will examine how fiction, by combining images and narration, seizes upon past events to construct a narrative delivery where individual destinies converge with major historical events. Thus, the semiological approach will allow us to observe how the meaning is generated by an association of iconographic signs specific to comic strips and how they guide the reader in his or her understanding of the story. As for the narrative approach, it will highlight the strategies employed by authors for arranging facts in relation to the actual reconfiguration of historical events, and this in the view of the testimonies of the various players involved—in this case, the players of the national team—as well as French archives from the period. Finally, the socio-historical perspective will place this work in its geopolitical context and open up a critical reinterpretation of the past in all its complexity by bringing to the fore, on the one hand, the dialogue between individual memories and official discourses on history, and, on the other, the diplomatic stakes that the Algerian revolution triggered in at that time in the world.
We will also attempt to understand how our authors construct their view of the Algerian War, a subject that remains controversial in France even today. Our analysis will reveal the complex dynamics of a graphically-driven narrative that is both intimate and symbolic, intertwining the players’ human adventure with the course of history. It will also serve as a reminder that history is not only told through battles and political speeches, but also through the deeds, choices, and commitments of the men and women who, in both on and off the battlefield, shaped the destiny of a nation.
Key words: Comic- History- fiction-politic-football
