Between Sea and Sahara: An Algerian Journal

Fromentin, Eugene (author); Robinson, Blake (translation)

ISBN 10: 0821412728 / ISBN 13: 9780821412725

Published by Chicago: Ohio Univ Press, 1999

About this Item

Chicago: Ohio Univ Press (1999). First edition. First printing. Hardcover. New/new. A clean, tight copy. Comes with mylar dust jacket cover. Shipped in well-padded box. Smoke-free shop. Defect-free. Brand new still in original shrink wrap. 0.0.

Seller Inventory # LW-1743

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Between Sea and Sahara: An Algerian Journal
• Publisher: Chicago: Ohio Univ Press
• Publication Date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0821412728
• ISBN 13: 9780821412725
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Condition: New
• Dust Jacket Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Between Sea and Sahara gives us Algeria in the third decade of colonization. Written in the 1850s by the gifted painter and extraordinary writer Eugene Fromentin, the many-faceted work is travelogue, fiction, stylized memoir, and essay on art. Fromentin paints a compelling word picture of Algeria and its people, questioning France’s—and his own—role there. He shows French dynamism tending to arrogance, tinged with malaise, as well as the complexity of the Algerians and their canny survival tactics. In his efforts to capture the non-Western world on paper as well as on canvas, Fromentin reveals much about the roots of a colonial relationship that continues to affect the Algeria of today. He also reveals his own development as painter, writer—and human being.

Now available for the first time in English, Between Sea and Sahara appeals to today’s reader on many levels—as a story of color, romance, and dramatic tension; as an eywitness account of the colonial experience in Algeria; as a study in trans-genre text, foreshadowing Fromentin’s psychological masterpiece, the novel Dominique. And, as Valérie Orlando points out in her introduction, Fromentin opens a window on the ethos informing the fashion of Orientalism that flourished with colonialism.

About the Author

Eugene Fromentin (1820-1876) was a master in two arts. Especially known for his paintings of North Africa, he was the author of two travel books on the region. He also wrote the novel Dominique and a work on Flemish and Dutch painting. Both Flaubert and George Sand thought highly of him as a writer.