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The White of Algeria Author(s): Assia Djebar and Andrew Benson Source: Yale French Studies, No.

87, Another Look, Another Woman: Retranslations of French Feminism (1995), pp. 138-148 Published by: Yale University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2930329 . Accessed: 21/12/2010 19:04
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ASSIA DJEBAR

The WhiteofAlgeria

INTRODUCTION By Clarisse Zimra in In 1993,theFrench withtheUniversity cityofStrasbourg, association of the of and Strasbourg, Cultural Ministry theFrench government oftheCommonMarket, sponsored annualseriesofsymposia, its films, roundtables and in As at theCenter European for Literatures. implied theofficial title,"Le cri to du monde"(The World's its of Scream), themewas dedicated thedefense artistic freedom aroundthe world;its aim was to bring about,at longlast, of old of to Herman Broch's dream the1940s,a "Parliament Writers" actas the the world. This timearound, meeting on conscienceoftheWestern focused of "an with and Sarajevo theviolent disintegration Eastern Europe, obsession and to identity, achievable only through ethnic, cultural, linguistic cleansing, whichBosniahas becometheghastly as emblem, well as thelaboratory."' of from Maghreb, the The presence Assia amongtheparticipants writers Dib amongthem, was no accident. Theircountry is Djebarand Mohammed havebeenclosed.Open seasonhas nowon thebrink a civilwar;itsborders of been declaredon all dissenters bothsides,a repressive semi-secular but by artfundamentalism. government battling religious Intellectuals, journalists, nongratae.Thousandshavebeen ists,writers women)arenowpersonae (and murdered. of Algeriamay well be the next ghastlylaboratory identity politics. out "Arabization Djebar'sessaysingles theofficial policy"thathas systemather icallydistorted country's andcomplex long past,onethatgoesbackall the to Berber resistance Egyptian and wayto theautochtonous encroachment; one of who chosenot to write in thatwouldnow denythe "Algerianity" writers Sincethe1962victory the a Arabic, herself included. against French masters,
1. Christian Salmon,"No to Speechlessness," cridu monde,specialeditionof Le de 2. Carrefour Litteratures des Europeennes Strasbourg November (4-8 1993), ? YFS 87,Another ed. Look,Another Woman, Huffer, 1995byYale University. 138

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and newkindofcultural all imperialism erased other has political, linguistic, to have been the onlysuccessful multiculturalcontributions whatmight of ethnic, multicultural national revolution theshores theMediterranean. on fat Jaded and revolutionaries, grown on oil royalties foreign attempted aid, tosweepunder rugtheproblems the raised thedecomposing by economy they mismanaged. Theirdecisionto givea free reinto religious fervor, to proand moteteachers intellectuals and trained Middle-Eastern in countries a counas a terbalance thepull oftheWestandthecalls for moreopensociety to among of European-trained intellectuals, misfired. 4 October1988,in thestreets On civilians the Algiers, army the openedfire a sea ofyoung on protesting recent risein theprice bread. of downalleys tanks, thousands were Hunted by injured, moretortured-many whileincarcerated. official The thousands disappeared countat the end ofthefirst was ofsix hundred day dead-that is, forthose whosebodiescouldbe found. Djebarhas commented thisas theshattering on of eventsthatprecipitated writing Loin de Medine in a 1993 Callaloo the interview. of Although these riotswerethe culmination a seriesof toughfactory the march to a allianceofidealistic strikes, October managed regroup motley committed lukewarm and students, democrats, religious believers, at least The bloodbathplayed women'sassociations. intothehandsof different eight in thehard-core Threeyearslater, December1991,the FIS fundamentalists. National de Salut or National Front Salvation)cleanedup at the for (Front of polls. In an unprecedented unconstitutional move,and withthebacking secularmoderates, regime declared elections the nullandvoid, the frightened in Council.After fewmonths a of andputthecountry thehandsofa Security whileattending tentative the was thawing, replacement president murdered an official live in broadcast on television. function June 1992,his execution Whileit is tempting speculate to that assassins, his whoclaimedallegiance to the FIS, werereligious a findit equallycompelling to fanatics, cynicmight wereegged bymilitary hard-liners. Therehas beenever concludethatthey on moreviolent from repression, torture, execution and bothsides.As ofSeptember1994,an estimated 10,000peoplehavebeenkilled, according thestateto runnewsagency. "The WhiteofAlgeria"takesup theproblematic tangled and connection betweenwriting and sayingthe individual self,writing and expressing the in collectiveself(parolevs. 6criture) a repressive state.Algeria, once in the throes a revolutionary against French of war is the of masters, nowin thethroes a civilwaragainst itself (theself-cannibalistic immolation, auto-devoration, thatendstheessay). thecurrent In and viopower struggle, physical cultural lencehasbeenaimedatthewomen In whocontinue march. thefirst to months of 1994,twenty-seven killed, were often stabbed, their or throats for cut, not the was wearing veil.The youngest fourteen; oldest, the ninety-four.retaliaIn anti-FIS haveattacked veiledwomen.Although Euthe tion,secular, groups

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ropean mediahavecommented abundantly, American press releases havebeen few.Thus, in an essayostensibly intended a Europeanaudience,Djebar for neednotspecify subtext: theever-repressive in her Algerian state, womenare now targets choice,because they've of alwaysbeen the culture's symbols of choice. ThatDjebarwouldcouchherresponse thecurrent to in events hercountry of and underthe twinsymbols theWoman(covertly) the Berber (overtly) is deliberate."The White of Algeria"pointedly yokes Apuleus, the NorthAfrican writer bornin theNumidiancapitalofCiria (modern-day Constantin ine) in 125 AD, but writing the languageof the Romaninvaders, the to modern-day, Arabophone Kateband Berberophone Mammeri, who practiced invaders. a bold countermove In the language theFrench of shored byits up authentic a and past,Djebarclaimsfor Algeria larger literature, a wider homelandthatwouldencompass onlythe"treasures" "jewels"ofclassical not and of Arabic poetry; onlythe"suffused not iridescence" thefolkdialectsandthe of as oraltradition; thesonsanddaughters colonizers well.Herreclaiming but and of not CamusandRoblesas part parcel theAlgerian landscape, tomention Derridaand Cixous,is thustruly provocative, giventheofficially sanctioned in of short-term historical memory, theteeth bothstubborn Kabyle endurance andfemale autonomy. one not female Nevertheless, mustbe careful to oversimplify. Although has in resistance thefundamentalist to platform beendocumented thewestern in female is of of there plenty evidence vigorous press, participation theFIS as who may well. Some are younger scientists educatedin Arabuniversities, or resenttheirlack ofaccess to theWest(Western-trained Francophone Anhavetended belong themiddleandupper to to intellectuals glophone classes). in Some maywell findin theirsanctioned publicparticipation the ongoing thema forum politicaland social debatethattheFIS provides longdeniedby erstwhile revolutionaries. that Be as the"backtothekitchen" policiesofaging womenhavealways beentheideological of it may, Algerian refuge lastresort. of brutal(and Wherethe erasereffect Frenchcolonialismwas particularly of enforced womenwereenvirtue their and efficient), bythevery isolation, of valuesandthelastshreds dignity of trusted withpreserving lastcultural the war a dispossessed people.Thus,in theideological nowwagedalongwiththe has economicone,Woman becometheultimate pawn. of friends celebration departed Botha mourning (Kateb, Mammeri, Djaout) marksa turning for and a grieving a suicidalnation,"The WhiteofAlgeria" timeshe has comepublicly, in becauseit is thefirst pointin Djebar'scareer, current voice as well as in print, an openlypoliticalpositionregarding to she doneso in hernovelsand in events hercountry (although has,ofcourse, in herinterviews). indicts official the She indirectly governmental policythat of the and wouldrender complex multilayered ethnicity pastandpresent-day a of intoa singleentity. she also indicts wholegeneration writers But Algeria

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and thinkers, herself amongthem,who have not spokensoon enoughand Not anymore. loudlyenough. " on "Le blancde l'Alg6rie,a titlethat punssimultaneously "white,""blank," of was at and"void"(three possible meanings theFrench), presented theweekat in long meetingof worldwriters the CenterforEuropeanLiteratures at the of Thenwriter-in-residence Center, Strasbourg. Djebarwaspart a distinfrom Nobel Laureate OctavioPaz to theUnitedStates'sown guishedroster, to the of SusanSontag ToniMorrison, and brought together address questions of freedom expression politicalcensorship. served the and on world-wide She Parliament Writers. of The steering committee callingforan International of was manifesto signed twohundred them. by Anropeennes de Strasbourg. was translated their It by in-house translator,
permission.

in In the original the des EuFrench, essayappeared Carrefour Litt6ratures

I footnotes thisversion, to for the drew Benson, use during meeting.haveadded with Mr. Benson's graciouslysent by the editorialteam of Carrefour

Algeria today . .. in the wake of a series of murders of writers and it intellectuals that was triggered, seems, in response to increased repression-the only policy anyone can findto brandishagainst a religious fundamentalismset on takingpower whateverthe cost; in the face of these convulsions which are plungingmy countryinto a war that dares not speak its name and that again could be euphemistically referred as "events"2; in this returnofviolence and its anaesthetizto ing vocabulary, what is this "white" (thewhiteness ofdust,lightwithout sun, dilution, etc.) and why bringit up here? Rather than simply inscribingmy comments in the wake of those made on this tragedyby sociologists, historians,political scientists, and even pamphleteers, I can find no other way to express my own unease as a writerand an Algerian than by referring this color, or to rather,this non-color. Kandinsky said that "white, on our soul, acts like absolute silence." Here, by means of this referenceto abstract painting, I am setting offa discourse that is, in such circumstances, somewhat off-center. the Irreversibly, edges of the chasm are gaping, pulling into the abyss not only some of the boldest intellectuals, but, according to
2. The euphemism used bytheFrench government mediareporting a naand on tionalliberation struggle withthename of (1954-1962)theydid not wantto dignify "war."Djebaruses theallusionsarcastically, doesDib in thepoemsheincludes as later.

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theluck ofa bloodylottery, some ofthemeekestas well. Indeed,the violenceso unleashed, its blindacceleration in certainly accentuates thevanity thespoken of but word, also itsnecessity. word(parole) Any be thatwouldnotprimarily one ofpassion,and that, groping aboutin the darkforthe limitsof its reach,could remainaware of its own fragility evenofitsinanity and comestoolate.But,beneath leaden the let skywhereitunfurls, sucha wordcomeoutofitshiding placeto set and traps ambushall ambiguities; wit,thefact to thatthemediatakeoverof any intellectual resistance (one remembers before1992 the mediatransforming fanatics God [fous Dieu] intoa spectaa few of de cle) onlyendedup in a thickening whitenoise,theblankzone ofthe projectors, widening desert(hereI am onlyreferring Algerian the to of on intellectuals theverge thedizzying abyssand not,ofcourse,to in the solidarity, Franceand elsewhere, which is trying organize to itself). ForI am haunted, the personally-in the calm before storm-by thelongand abiding stateofmorbidity whichAlgerian in has culture the latent brew of lingered:discourse secretingand fomenting discord-not because of the emptinessof political speech which into of wastedlittletimein degenerating a merebandying wordsand withintheirown scithe recitalof socioeconomic findings trapped ence. No! in seemedto me that, an Algeria thathas increasingly It has often becomeculturally sexual segfragmented wherethe traditional (and has all words(paroles) regation tightened thescrews), have,ofneceslost couldsharpen themselves their sity, their edgeevenbefore they by ownflickering light. And yet,I am movedonlyby thatneed forwords(paroles)with disaster. this and whichto confront imminent Writing its urgency. on aboutan Algeria and whichsome Writing teetering thebrink for the peopleare already preparing whiteshroud. as I livedin Algeria a university academicfor muchofthethirty years like as such,I tried fight, mypeers, before to and ofindependence; long, to littleavail,againstthe setting ofan educationalsystem whose up absurdity-no,worsethan that,whose imbecility-in the sense of and irremediable inherent weakness-sent so many youngpeople cultural one headlonginto a distressing underdevelopment, thatfed itself,true,on a hungerfor social justice that was being simuland Theirnumbers havebeengrowing taneously sharpened frustrated.

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boom deliberately because ofan unbridled population encouraged by thestate. soundedon the stageof Now thatthe threeknockshave already it thisdrama(orthistragedy), wouldbe useless to indicta policythat preachedfromon high a massive,cut-rate Arabization, backed by thannotgraduated from Sorbonne, notjust and elitesmoreoften the or any Orientaluniversities medieval"zaouias." And all the while, when it only meant such a policy claimed a desireformodernity, technology! flared fanned Longbefore Islamicfundamentalist the danger up, by it all thesewinds ofpopulardissent, long before turned oppressive, had the of some dissident intellectuals denounced pseudopopulism a that authoritarianism was usingthe wealthfrom self-congratulatory oil ournationalized to shoreup its self-serving image. morelimitedin scope,is to throw My intention, lighton the culfailure tural,thereto focuson the fatalpointwherethe inevitable anchored itself. the Throughout seventies, Algeriapolishedup its official imageas a representative international of third-world politics,while in its own lower-class in district mired market townsandvillages, every (already in the twinsicknessesofunrestand poverty), everything relating to sealed off. communication-orthe word(parole)-was progressively the from Inexorably poisonseepedin-what I do notflinch callinga "warbetween languages." literature-from to Algerian Apuleusin thesecondcentury Kateb Yacineand MouloudMammeri, contemporaries our in departed such a fashion-has alwaysinscribed linguistic untimely triangle: -A first of language rockandsoil,letus saysprung from origithe nal language, Lybico-Berber the whichfor whilelostitswritten a form, theTouaregs.3 exceptamong
3. Traced far as backas 1200BC, whenthey withtheEgyptian tangled pharaohs, the of Berbers partof the motley are grouping original people along the Mediterranean from Eastdidnotsettle earnest shores. the in (TheArab invaders untiltheeighth century a base and a commonwriting AD.) They shared linguistic withthe Semitosystem inscribed withthese "Lybico-Berber" Phoenicians, leavingsome stonemonuments characters. varieties theBerber of and Although havesurvived are thriving North in language Africa oralform, written in the had in version all butdisappeared thetwentieth century, aliveinthetranscription of of who kept barely system theNomadic Touaregs theSahara, wellovera million. maynownumber

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-A secondlanguage, thatoftheprestigious outside, theMediof or terranean Eastern Western or heritage, reserved, is true, literate it for minorities: thepast,fora longtime,it was an Arabickeptin the in of a shadow official French; French nowmarginalized whenitis usedto creative ends,butvaluedat schoolonlyas a "language scienceand of technology." -The thirdpartner this "menagea trois,"the most visible, in the of dominant, publiclanguage, language power: thatofdiatribes but the also, in written form, mediumof scribes, and lawyers, notaries. Thisrolehas beenfilled different by languages throughout history: our LatinuntilAugustine; Classical Arabicin theMiddleAges; Turkish, the of tookoveradministrative which, during "Kingdom Algiers," and military usage.Then,after entered stage, the 1830,French dressed a in colonialuniform; now,the so-called"modern"Arabictaught the to " under pompous, the ahistorical term "national of young language. (To be logical,our "nationallanguage"-or thatofa reborn postcolonial for Algerian State-was Turkish threecenturies, Arabiconlyfor and decades.ThisArabicmaybe "classical" butit is limited thelastthree like all nations,enriches lanand soulless.The Nation,though, its of and guagewiththeswelling itsverve sap,in thebad timesas in the good.) As forthe "warbetweenlanguages"mentioned above,I came to it at I At experience personally only gradually the university. first, its that underestimated quasi-neurotic symptoms: certain academics, a of devoidof spouting grotesquely pompousjargon scholastic Arabic, as and as anyrealthought, soothing meaningless Church Latin,should the to suddenly decide,longafter warofindependence, becomebornwar the againaggressive nationalists, waging against French language, and, if need be, againstthe "West";therewas a comedyof human which sooneror later,it seemedto me, would inspirean stupidity, or Flaubert Gogol. Algerian To sum up, thisdriveforinstitutionalized on worked mediocrity for the two fronts: example,promoting "nationallanguage"in the the mediameant, first, authoritatively restricting living spaceofother in off and from television languages, cutting programs French Berber in and radio,like so manylimbs.The secondtierofdiscordance this the of vertical varisterilizing monolingualism, diglossia Arabic(that of that a ability structure could giveschoolchildren preciousmental the withother Arab was agility), handled worst far by whencompared becauseofa massive of educational systems, undoubtedly importation

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MiddleEastern teachers, aboveall,becauseofa banonthepopular and, culture thatfeeds a dialectsuffused of on withtheiridescence regional a variations, dialectsubtlein its innatepowerto convey contention, irony, dreams. and a Thus,denying wholepeopletheir geniuswenthandin handwith of who in beingsuspicious thatminority writers express of themselves French who,againsttheodds,or,for and lack ofbetter, exile,manin agedto continueto produce. Jacques Berque, who recently declared that"Islamicfundamentalism" wantsto claim modernity while rejecting intellectual its subchoicesthatit is livinga structures, ofAlgeriaand its linguistic says in other Arabcounsituation thathas never existed anyofthetwenty of thosethatalso had to facediglossia, withthepresence one or tries, two second languages.He concludesthatAlgeriahas been good at a into sourceofsuperiority a majorproblem! turning potential Bataillewho,on Following the-prestigious-exampleofGeorges in thedaywarwas declared 1939,beganhis workLe Coupable ("I am but becauseoftheevents shallnotspeakaboutthem. . ."), beginning of it the writers withquestions "Algeperhaps is timefor few occupied to to rianity" they mayfeelconstrained write, [algerianite') tackletexts childhood took no longer memory a colonialpastin whichtheir in of landoftheir threats the on of ancesplace,butin thelight thepresent evenifthey haveleftit behind. tors, "a I use theword"Algerianity, farbroader notionthanthe "Algerianidentity" recorded official on papers; justas in thepastitincluded Ferraoun Kateb,it wouldnow link and Camus and Roblesalongside Derridaand MohammedDib, orHelene Cixous and myself. as The of "that Writing Algeria territory. desert writing (1'ecriture), the whitewhichstarts the which,from indefinite out,reconstitutes in of in margin," thewords Andre Dubouchet, speaking 1986in Holderin'shouse in Tibingen. AndwhatofthewhiteofAlgeria, "out oftune,outofsorts[desacas cordee], ifbythesnow"?I am coming backto it. I appearto have lingered overthe ruinsof deliquescentknowledge, whosepathetic failure to of as ought haveactedmuchearlier a warning an explosion, thatofOctober1988.Six hundred young in corpses the sun-the future bledwhite-were not entitled theleast liturgical to in or of mourning anyofthethree languages, in a symphony all three wherewas poetry be found, to then?Where, summits? its together:

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its Where, abysses? Aphasiawas no longer condemnation a mask but pulledovera decomposing face.... KatebYacine,whomI saw in Brussels one monthlater, was quiet, determined be quiet. Whenhe made up his mind,a bit later,to to return exile to write, writeofhis rageno doubt,he was struck to to the downbyleukemia, whitedisease. The "opening" whichfollowed thepolitical on front alloweda multiparty system and,itwas hoped, democracy: turned tobe fragile it out and fitonlyforbuffoons. Then,after murder thehead ofstate, the of witheveryone in of watching oneMonday June 1992,things live, accelin erated a chainreaction. Twoweeksbefore TaharDjaout4was murdered, whenI was paying public homagein Paristo MohammedDib, I expressed anguish my overthedeadlockin whichthenoncommunicable-the whiteblankness, as it were,ofAlgerian first misfortune-plunged and foremost intoan abyss: ourwriters
The birdtraveler, thatlandofAlgeria, yes, in The proudally, barefoot thesand,hairlike brushwood and stomach of rounded, Algeria theshadows in over She fedthoseangelfacesarising fullsunlight, there cold eyeswitha dancing She kholedtheir anger cheekswithsolitary boredom Rougedtheir Reddened their mouths withscreaming silence Thirty yearson,wordscomefullcirclein a heavysky to source andreturn their sedition space: of Theyexplode, stateofsiege,riotpolice,outlaw "events," of and and thevictims chance, wide-eyed, tears It all comesback-but in a pitiful inversion.

Theproud ofthewind, say ally you

the In fact, the during bloodydaysofOctober, insomniathatplagued withits curfew, wheretanksthreaded me in the middleof Algiers, the led through streets, me to begina textcalled "DesertedAlgiers,"
in as he 4. Born 1954,andtrained a mathematician, was one oftheyounger generahe tionofAlgerian intellectuals. probable Of Kabyle by ancestry, was murdered Fundaon mentalist sympathizers 26 May 1992.He hadpublished poemsandnovelsin France. His lastpublications wereLes Vigiles (Seuil,1991)andL'Expropri6 (Majault,1991).His him almostall oftheunforgivable on theFIS list: short gifted qualified for and sins life in and of and writer, journalist avowedsecularbent,trained published theWest, with His had of homosexual leanings. paperAlgerie-ActualitW published excerpts Djebar's historical meditation thelifeoftheProphet, on Loin de MWdine. lastandcontroversial

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whenI reread translucent the never finished; anger, my poetry written byDib (appealing a "beyond-powerlessness") for found, thanks the to a silenceofthatfriendship,sortofoutlet. I realized thatthedesert couldseizeourwords (parole) from within. Algeria untranslated: outstanding left the works themostimportant of "national"writers (Kateb, Dib, Ferraoun, Mammeri) translated almost throughout world, the wereleftuntranslated the "nationallaninto All werereluctantly allowedwas theacaguage"for thirty years! they to demicreadership university, confined the"foreign at but languages" From time to time, theywere anthologized some in department! readers. secondary-school dreary in of More seriousstill: the treasures oral literature the delicate of the Algerian overcenturiesdialects-the livingbreath people a transcribed. never wereequallyexcluded; fewwere, sometimes, One but tiredofharking backto yesteryear's manlystruggle, no attention was paid to thetreasures expressing courtly love,or nostalgia, jewels to and thatranthegamut from felt deeply mysticism voluptuous tenfor derbeauty. a Living Algerian Arabic, language dovesandpoets,but notfor new civilservants. the As forBerber, was bannedveryearlyon at universities you it (if even wanted study youhadtogotoNaplesorAix!)andpersecuted to it, thefire discontent of to theKabyle in primary schools, fueling leading crisisin 1980.5 or Each language, then, was confined its area,regional socialto themlaya no-man's-land. condemned a ghetto-whilein between to Wanwhiteness crept like a lonelywindorfrost. in, The worst occurred during mid-1980s. the The tap controlling the for most of consumption liveimageswas opened fully (nonpictures the in television moreaccurately, American separt), allowing French or, ries dubbedinto French. the same time,a decisionwas made to At end-under thepretext saving of of money-the circulation anypress which expressedopinions from elsewhere,therebystarvingresearchers realreaders-a minority, true-to whombookswere and it's as vitalas foodanddrink. universities,stopwasputtotheteaching In a of the main Europeanlanguages-apartfrom Frenchand Englishreference thestrikes street and in in 5. A probable to riots thecity Azazga, Greater of the Kabylia, triggered around visitand subsequently banned publiclecture Kabyle on language culture MouloudMammeri. and by

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a putting wholesectionoftheAlgerian memory ofreach-all that out lies in Spanish, Italian,and Turkish archives. This meansthata whole treasure been put out ofbounds, has including Nedjma and The Stranger, also Nausea, Kafka's but Letter to His Father, Dr.Zhivago, and becausethey havenotbeentranslated into the "nationallanguage":blacklisted-rather, white-listed whiteor washedin thedirty whiteoftacit, lazy censorship. fact, think is In I it reallythebrighter-than-white ofthering shine aroundthebull's eye. These works, whichmight havesparked interest young in minds, had to be keptoutofreach.So thatthey notfly andreachthepointof do off no return: inquisitive, the readerwho, in theirmirror, questioning wouldhavefeltless deprived. Betweencreator reader, and whether French, in Arabic, Berber, or of stretched innerborder a "new" Algeria, the i.e., one fragmented, sealed off from nurtured somewhere else and drained anythought of the sap ofits scorned roots.Held in thattightgrip, Algeriawas unand delivered, to to moored wide-open, thepeddlers, all kindsof"media" ofall persuasions, well as thewarped as zealot. In this "unsaid" of the culturaldesert, you could beginto hear, audiblecrackle thecurrent the of fissure. underground, barely The whiteof silence and thatof the page waitingin vain foran textand its translated original double,at theriskofbeingsomewhat betrayed. in The white of writing, an untranslated Algeria?For the time all its being, Algeria, writingless, despite theactionsofwriting, despite a and groans;alas, forthe timebeing, bloodybut writing-less angers country (sang-ecriture). our our without beforehand How canwe mourn friends, colleagues, tookplace,thefuneral the of out funeral saying loud whyyesterday's dream? and The whiteofdawn-betweenthecolonialnight Algerian " likea Malevich therising day?"White squareon a whitebackground, at "But this desertis painting, exclaiming, the turnof the century: that withan objective brimming sensitivity pervades everything!" in in of of of Inthebrilliance thatdesert, theretreat writing search a to languageoutsidelanguages(horsles langues),endeavoring scrub of tofind that all out,in ourselves, thefuries collective self-devouring, words"(en dedans de la parole) thatreplace "from within-among homeland. mainsourone and onlyfertile -Translated byAndrew Benson

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