Boualem Sansal

L'enfant fou de l'arbre creux, by Boualem Sansal, Paris, Gallimard, 2000, 301 pp., ISBN 2-07-075928-8 Poste restante: Alger; Lettre de colère et d'espoir à mes compatriots, by Boualem Sansal, Paris, Gallimard, 2006, 59 pp., ISBN 2-07-077684-0 Petit éloge de la mémoire: Quatre mille et une années de nostalgie, by Boualem Sansal, Paris, Gallimard, 2007, 134 pp., ISBN 978-2-07-034126-9 Sansal represents an important new voice in Algerian literature. He is a politically engaged writer who, after publishing four novels, has turned to such genres as the political pamphlet and the essay to express political criticism. This analysis reviews a representative novel, a pamphlet in the form of an ‘open letter’, and an essay on North African history in order to present Sansal's principal arguments and to illustrate his stylistic methods. The three works constitute a coherent whole that attacks orthodox ideas while calling for expanding the space of public discourse in Algeria. Keywords: Boualem Sansalengaged literaturememoryidentitypolitics and literature

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