Assia Djebar (1936-2015)

Very sad to learn of Assia Djebar‘s passing: she was an amazing woman & a superb writer! Her novel Fantasia: An Algerian Cavalcade can stand with Kateb Yacine’s Nedjma as foundational text for Algerian post-colonial literature. In Poems for the Millennium vol.4 I published some of her work, including a poem I reprinted here on Nomadics a while back (“Poems for a Happy Algeria”). Below, a first obit by mlynxqualey via Arabic Literature(in English): … Read more Assia Djebar (1936-2015)

A “Nobelisable” Djebar?

M. Lynx Qualey has an interesting post on her Arabic Literature (in English) blog, which I am reposting below. It is quite true that Assia Djebar would have been a much more interesting choice (among many possibles — I still think Adonis should have gotten the Nobel years ago). Her work as a novelist, essayist, poet & filmmaker is breathtaking in its scope, formal inventiveness, historical sweep, psychological savvyness, … Read more A “Nobelisable” Djebar?

from the “Diwan Ifrikiya” anthology: Assia Djebar

Assia Djebar — born in Cherchell in 1936 — is of course best known as the major Algerian novelist of her generation (Fantasia: An Algerian Cavalcade; A Sister to Scheherazade and Women of Algiers in their Apartments, among others). She was also the first Maghrebi woman to become a member of the Académie Française. But as a young writer she also wrote poetry. Here is one of those works, written in Rabat … Read more from the “Diwan Ifrikiya” anthology: Assia Djebar

Herta Müller Wins 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature

So the Nobel prize this year went to a German language novelist, originally from Romania. Last week when I blogged on the German Lit prize finalists, Müller was among those mentioned & signandsight put up a translated extract from her new novel. Below are the opening paras & here the link if you want to read on. So, after a decent but not truly major French novelist got the … Read more Herta Müller Wins 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature