- Wāssīnī al-Aʿraj (1954-, Algeria) – Thakirat al-Māʿ (‘Memory of the water’, 1997). Set during the Algerian political crisis and the civil war in the aftermath of the 1990 elections being won by the FIS (Front Islamic du Salut), the novel depicts three intellectuals and their differing views on both the government and the Islamic Front (reference). The first uses writing to criticize both parties; the second flees the country; and the third chooses complete removal from political life. What all three have in common however, is a desire for political change.
- Fatima Bourega-Gallaire’s (1944-, Algeria) play La beauté de l’icône (‘The beauty of the icon’, 2003) portrays the gendered aggression and the politically and religiously radicalized state economy of fear, terror, and censorship during the Algerian Civil War (reference). The play gives voice to the ‘mothers of the disappeared’: those who disappeared (read: have been imprisoned, tortured, and executed) in the numerous abductions at the hand of powerful militias and government security forces because they were labeled as ‘terrorists’ or ‘enemies of the state’ (reference).
- Rachid Boudjedra (written elsewhere as Rashīd Būjdirah, 1941-, Algeria) – Timimoun (‘Timimoun’, 1994). Narrator of this novel, a tour operator who is obsessed by fundamentalist terror and haunted by the suicide of his brother, takes a group to the southern Algerian desert in his bus. The novel is set in the period preceding the Algerian Civil War, and as the protagonist tours with the group, he reflects on his history (reference). At the same time, he is provoked by his obsession of a female passenger, Sarah, which turns into a confrontation with his own homosexual desires and violent impulses that seem to “underscore a message of collective responsibility for the FIS” (Front Islamic du Salut) (reference) (also in L: Love, Lust, and Relationships: LGBTQ+: Male Homosexuality).
- Aziz Chouaki (1951-, Algeria) – L’étoile d’Alger (2002, English trans. The Star of Algiers, 2004). The young singer Moussa Massy and his Arab African fusion band try their best to become successful in a turbulent Algiers in the 1990s when the FIS (Front Islamic du Salut) gains popularity. Moussa lives in three rooms with 13 members of his family, and shares one room with his two brothers, one of which is a member of the FIS (reference). When the FIS wins the election, Moussa is banned from preforming and descends into a life of alcohol and drugs abuse (also in C: Cities: Algeria: Algiers and O: Occupations, Hobbies and Professions: Music).
- Ahmed Hanifi (?, Algeria) – La folle d’Alger (‘the madwoman of Algiers’, 2012). This novel takes place in the 1990s and depicts forced disappearances in the ‘dirty war’. It centres Fādiyah, whose husband was killed by armed Islamic groups one night in a village called Ben Talha (east of the capital Algiers), a month before her son was kidnapped by people in military uniforms. While her daughter protests in the streets of Algiers against the enforced disappearances, Fādiyah embarks on a journey to search for her son. Together with other mothers of the disappeared, she follows the example of mothers in Argentina and Bolivia, who fought for their right to know what happened to their children.
- Yasmina Khadra (written elsewhere Yāsmīnah Khaḍrāʾ, as pseudonym for Moḥammad Mūlisihūl, 1995-, Algeria) – À quoi rêvent les loups (1999, English trans. Wolf Dreams, 2003). The novel describes the birth of Islamic fundamentalism in Algeria in the aftermath of the Algerian Civil War and the overall rising tide of Islamism following the Iranian revolution and the return of Arab Afghan fighters, through the story of Nafa Walid (reference). Nafa, a young man with high hopes, is frustrated by poverty and disillusioned and becomes the ruthless Emir of a terrorist squad, a function that offers him an escape from the hollowness of life (reference) (also in I: Ideologies and Political Movements: Terrorism: (De) Radicalization).
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Zuhayr Maḥmūd ʿUbaydāt. 2005. “Qiraʿ fī riwāyat dhakirat al- māʾ”, al- manarah, 12:1
- Brinda Mehta. 2014. “‘Disappeared’: Maternal Activism and the Algerian Civil War in Fatima Bourega-Gallaire’s ‘La Beauté de l’icône’.” Research in African Literatures 45(2): 25-45, p. 25, 32
- John Culbert. 2003. “On the Trace of the Other: Memory, Melancholia, and Repression in Rachid Boudjera’s ‘Timimoun’.” L’Esprit Créateur 43(1): 69-80, p. 70, 77
- Deborah Levy. 2006. “‘The Star of Algiers’ by Aziz Chouaki, trans. Ros Schwarts and Lulu Norman.” www.independent.co.uk, 11 August 2006, https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-star-of-algiers-by-aziz-chouaki-trans-ros-schwartz-amp-lulu-norman-411327.html (last accessed 9 March 2019)
- Mohammed Senoussi and Ilhem Serir Mortad. 2019. “Plotting the Unspeakable in Khadra’s ‘Wolf Dreams’.” In Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction 60(4): 501-513, p. 502, 504, 511