(Re)Interpreting Normativity and Masculinity in Bahaa Trabelsi’s Une vie à trois

Abstract This article examines the multifaceted process of queer subjectivity (re)formation that queer Maghrebi subjects undergo as they (re)interpret their relationship to and orientation toward social norms, masculinity, and the spaces of exchange they inhabit. Bahaa Trabelsi’s Une vie à trois [A Life of Three] (2000) assembles an intricate literary text to signal the inequalities many non-normative or queer Maghrebi subjects encounter via conservative discourse. This article understands Trabelsi’s work as a critique of masculinity and society, in which she does reconfigure masculinity to develop a plural form, which is to say, “masculinities,” to go beyond singular, essentialized interpretations of the concept. To engage with Trabelsi’s apparent critique of Moroccan society, this article postulates that the several narratives in the novel assemble figures of revolt, which involve subjects purposefully eliding societal pressures, therefore, situating themselves as “others” within their communities to maintain agency and individual subjecthood.