Leïla Sebbar's novel recounts an event in French history that has been hidden for many years. Toward the end of the Algerian war, the FLN, an Algerian nationalist party, organized a demonstration in Paris to oppose a curfew imposed upon Algerians in France. About 30,000 Algerians gathered peacefully, but the protest was brutally suppressed by the Paris police. Between 50 and 200 Algerians were killed and their bodies were thrown into the Seine. This incident provides the background for a more intimate look into the history of violence between France and Algeria. Following three young protagonists―one French, one Algerian, and one French national of Algerian descent―Sebbar takes readers on a journey of discovery and comprehension. Mildred Mortimer's impressive translation conveys the power of Sebbar's words in English and allows English-speaking readers an opportunity to understand the complex relationship between past and present, metropole and colony, immigrant and citizen, that lies at the heart of this acclaimed novel.

The Seine Was Red: Paris, October 1961

Literature & Fiction

SEBBAR, Leïla

Mortimer, Mildred

Genre Fiction

Indiana University Press

Leïla Sebbar's novel recounts an event in French history that has been hidden for many years. Toward the end of the Algerian war, the FLN, an Algerian nationalist party, organized a demonstration in Paris to oppose a curfew imposed upon Algerians in France. About 30,000 Algerians gathered peacefully, but the protest was brutally suppressed by the Paris police. Between 50 and 200 Algerians were killed and their bodies were thrown into the Seine. This incident provides the background for a more intimate look into the history of violence between France and Algeria. Following three young protagonists—one French, one Algerian, and one French national of Algerian descent—Sebbar takes readers on a journey of discovery and comprehension. Mildred Mortimer's impressive translation conveys the power of Sebbar's words in English and allows English-speaking readers an opportunity to understand the complex relationship between past and present, metropole and colony, immigrant and citizen, that lies at the heart of this acclaimed novel.

Mildred Mortimer questions the preeminence of outer and inner voyages in the francophone African novel.

Journeys Through the French African Novel (STUDIES IN AFRICAN LITERATURE NEW SERIES)

World Literature

Heinemann

<div> Today, the "fight to write"?the struggle to become the legitimate chronicler of one?s own story?is being waged and won by women across mediums and borders. But such battles of authorship extend well beyond a single cultural moment. In her gripping study of unsung female narratives of the Algerian War, Mildred Mortimer excavates and explores the role of women?s individual and collective memory in recording events of the violent anticolonial conflict. Presenting close readings of published works spanning five decades?from Assia Djebar?s 1962 Children of the New World to Zohra Drif?s 2014 Inside the Battle of Algiers: Memoir of a Woman Freedom Fighter? Women Fight, Women Write traces stylistic and material transformations in Algerian women?s writings as it reveals evolving attitudes toward memory, trauma, historical objectivity, and women?s political empowerment. Refuting the stale binary of men in battle, women at home, these testimonial texts let women lay claim to the Algerian War story as participants and also as chroniclers through fiction, historical studies, and memoir. Algeria?s patriarchal norms long kept women from speaking publicly about private matters, silencing their experiences of the war. Still, the conflict has ceaselessly sparked creative work. The country?s dark decade of violent struggle between the Algerian army and Islamist fundamentalists in the 1990s brought the liberation struggle back into focus, inspiring and emboldening many more women to defiantly write. Women Fight, Women Write advances the broken silence, illuminating its vital historical revisions and literary innovations. </div>

Women Fight, Women Write: Texts on the Algerian War

History & Criticism

University of Virginia Press

Today, the "fight to write"--the struggle to become the legitimate chronicler of one's own story--is being waged and won by women across mediums and borders. But such battles of authorship extend well beyond a single cultural moment. In her gripping study of unsung female narratives of the Algerian War, Mildred Mortimer excavates and explores the role of women's individual and collective memory in recording events of the violent anticolonial conflict. Presenting close readings of published works spanning five decades--from Assia Djebar's 1962 Children of the New World to Zohra Drif's 2014 Inside the Battle of Algiers: Memoir of a Woman Freedom Fighter-- Women Fight, Women Write traces stylistic and material transformations in Algerian women's writings as it reveals evolving attitudes toward memory, trauma, historical objectivity, and women's political empowerment. Refuting the stale binary of men in battle, women at home, these testimonial texts let women lay claim to the Algerian War story as participants and also as chroniclers through fiction, historical studies, and memoir. Algeria's patriarchal norms long kept women from speaking publicly about private matters, silencing their experiences of the war. Still, the conflict has ceaselessly sparked creative work. The country's dark decade of violent struggle between the Algerian army and Islamist fundamentalists in the 1990s brought the liberation struggle back into focus, inspiring and emboldening many more women to defiantly write. Women Fight, Women Write advances the broken silence, illuminating its vital historical revisions and literary innovations.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Mortimer, Mildred. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Mortimer, Mildred

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Mortimer, Mildred. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Seine Was Red: Paris, October 1961

The Seine Was Red: Paris, October 1961

Journeys Through the French African Novel (STUDIES IN AFRICAN LITERATURE NEW SERIES)

Women Fight, Women Write: Texts on the Algerian War

Women Fight, Women Write: Texts on the Algerian War