"While to this day, those in power in Algeria obstruct an honest, uncensored processing of the past, Algerian literature repeatedly tries to create a space where collective hurt and the experience of violence can be played out. This is a positive thing.
But there are also disadvantages to the domineering presence of complex thematic backdrop of violence and trauma: it distorts appreciation of other qualities offered by Algerian literature – for example its fascinating, unusual richness of form. As early as 1956, Kateb Yacine, one of the founders of modern Algerian literature, set out his legendary novel "Nedjma" as a complex tale of deliberate confusion. Since then, polyphony, distorted perspectives, intertextual references, and a play on fiction and reality have been hallmarks of Algerian novels. Where does reality end, where does literature begin? What is the meaning of memory? The sheer variety of themes addressed by Algerian literature is also staggering: Habib Tengour's literary grapplings with the issues of exile, identity and cultural globalisation are examples of world literature in every sense. (...)"
Martina Sabra
trad. de Nina Coon,Qantara.de, 2012.
