The Muslim Diaspora Giggles Back: A Touch of Humour in Notre-Dame and the Vatican's Shadow

While the earlier literary production of the Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian Muslim diaspora writing in French and Italian is characterized by its autobiographical overtones, some literary texts written in the twenty-first century have engaged in more experimental enterprises. Kiffe Kiffe demain (2004), originally written in French by French -born Algerian diasporan Faiza Guene, and Divorzio all'islamica a viale Marconi (2010), published in Italian by Algerian-born Amara Lakhous, are two fictions that have achieved international success. This article argues that the tragic and the humorous are interwoven in the two texts by investigating Guene and Lakhous's depiction of Muslimness as both a source of torment and exhilarating humour.