Description
Book SynopsisThe only up-to-date and comprehensive text and reader of Algerian literature available in English, Algerian Literature: A Reader's Guide and Anthology offers the reader a historical and critical overview of the literature from the early twentieth century to the present, introduces Algerian authors, and provides selections from a wide range of their writings, many translated here for the first time. It begins with an overview chapter that charts the evolution of Algerian literature and puts it in its proper historical context, followed by five thematic chapters: decolonization and cultural affirmation, the War of Independence, modernization and its discontents, emigration, and history. The chapters begin with introductions on the themes under discussion and the selections are preceded by biographies of the authors, as well as detailed summaries of the larger works from which they are extracted. Finally, each chapter concludes with a bibliography and sources for readers seeking
Trade Review
“Reading «Algerian Literature: A Reader’s Guide and Anthology» was like a day spent with old friends—Dib, Boudjedra, Mammeri, Feraoun, Kateb, Djebar and others—that I’ve gone too long without seeing. It is thorough enough to be a resource for scholars and general enough for a reader coming to Algerian literature for the first time. There is nothing else like it in English, which makes it both useful and important.” —Richard Serrano, Professor of French and Comparative Literature, Rutgers University
Table of Contents
Preface by John Foster Robertson – Acknowledgments – Introduction – Antecedents and Evolution of Algerian Literature – Decolonization – The War of Independence – Emigration – Modernization and Its Discontents – Rethinking History – Timetable of Turning Points in Algerian History and of Writers and Texts Discussed – Glossary – References – Index.
