Bab El-Oued [a novel] - Softcover

Allouache, Merzak

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0894108603 ISBN 13: 9780894108600

Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1998

Synopsis

Bored housewives, kept in seclusion, smuggling in Harlequin romances. Modish young men transformed into Islamic militants in beards and white robes. A baker unwittingly caught in a web of intrigue, an imam whose faith is tested by urban corruption, a lonely divorcee accused of prostitution all take part in Merzak Allouache's compelling novel of a society on the brink of crisis.

Allouache tells the story of the people of Bab el-Oued, a poor neighborhood in contemporary Algiers. His experience as a filmmaker lends the work a cinematic quality, bringing it vibrantly and immediately to life. Bab el-Oued's memorable characters draw us into their world. Entering their lives, we come to appreciate the human costs of economic and political decline, and also to understand something of the reasons underlying the power of new and violent forms of Islamic militancy.

"I wrote this book," said Algerian director Merzak Allouache, "to exorcise the many frustrations that arose when making the film Bab el-Oued City in Algiers. Writing the book gave me a sense of freedom not possible with the constraints of the camera, especially when shooting in a hostile environment, as was the case there." Bab el-Oued City, released to wide acclaim in 1993, is Allouache's fifth full-length film. He now lives in France.

About this title

Language Notes:

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

From Publishers Weekly:

Life among the denizens of a poor neighborhood in Algiers, Bab el-Oued, was the subject of Algerian director Allouache's 1993 film of the same name. In this first novel, he elaborates on those affecting, everyday stories. Amid economic and political decline in the district, Islamic extremism gains appeal, evidenced by the pervasive sermons of Imam Rabah broadcast from loudspeakers throughout the apartment complexes. One young man, Boualem, sick of the Imam's heated diatribes against uncleanliness, dismantles a loudspeaker; in another apartment, sheltered women starved for stimulation from the outside world secretly share a library of Harlequin romances that one woman's husband secures from abroad. The religious fervor takes root among otherwise disenfranchised young men whose theoretical ideas are soon corrupted by the violence of their desires. Though united by its struggle to resist despair and despite the losses caused by drugs, disease and death, the community is--predictably--corroded by an idealism that fosters naivete and hatred. Allouache's omniscient director's point of view veers wildly: in an apparent attempt to render both wide-angle and zoom perspectives at once, it loses focus altogether. Characterization is clearly the novel's most important aspect, and though Allouache occasionally conveys a great deal through a well-drawn gesture, such as the flirtation of neighbors under terrible constraint, most of the characters remain vaguely abstract, neither allegorically nor realistically clear.

Copyright 1998 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Lynne Rienner Publishers
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0894108603
• ISBN 13: 9780894108600
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 134