Tragedy of Leadership: A Comparative Study between Eugene O’Neill’s “The Emperor Jones” (1921) and Yasmina Khadra’s “La dernière nuit du Rais” (2015).
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Date
2025
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Publisher
Université Mouloud Mammeri Tizi Ouzou
Abstract
The present paper carries out a comparative study between American literature and African
literature during the post-colonial era. I opt for E. O‟Neill‟s “The Emperor Jones” (1921) and Y.
Khadra‟s “La dernière nuit du Rais” (2015) to explore the implication of the issue of “modern
tragedy” in the protagonists “Jones” and “Gaddafi”. I endeavour to underscore aspects of the
“Dionysian” character and culture as they are introduced by the German philosopher F.
Nietzsche in his theory “The Birth of Tragedy” (2006). The study is conducted respecting
Aristotle‟s structure of “tragedy” introduced in his book “Poetics” (1956). My raised
assumptions are delimited to showing “In which context the protagonists can be handled as
Nietzsche‟s modern tragic heroes of political treachery?” What can their replication of the
European system of repression, as well as the uprising of the citizens reveal about the collapse of
their constructed democracies? The outcome of the analysis is three main chapters that constitute
the discussion chapter of this research activity. The first and second chapters introduce the
disparity between the leaders‟ greed for authority, and the natives‟ rise of consciousness to fight
the practised injustices. The last chapter deals with the regression and tragic fate of the tyrants.
The aftermath is that both literary masterpieces answer to Nietzsche‟s and Aristotle‟s components
of tragedy at the level of form and content. The suggested solution is avoiding revolution to fight
the oppressive regime engendered by modern dictators, unless in case of necessity. The main way
to answer back is through a literature that speaks its own time and space.
Description
77p. ; (+CD-Rom)
Keywords
Post-colonialism, Capitalism, Leadership, E. O’Neill, Y. Khadra, Modern Tragedy, Nietzsche, Aristotle, Tyranny, Dionysus, Oedipus Complex, power, uprising, Annihilation and the tragic destiny
Citation
Comparative Literature