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Rachid Boudjedra

Rachid Boudjedra

Writing

Biography

Rachid Boudjedra (Arabic: رشيد بوجدرة) (b. 5 September 1941 in Aïn Beïda, Algeria) is an Algerian poet, novelist, playwright and critic. Boudjedra wrote in French from 1965 to 1981, at which point he switched to writing in Arabic, often translating his own works back and forth between the two languages. Boudjedra returned to writing in French in 1992 and has continued to write in that language ever since. Educated in Constantine and in Tunis (at the Collège Sadiki), Boudjedra later fought for the FLN during the Algerian War of Independence. He received his degree in philosophy from the Sorbonne, where he wrote a thesis on Céline. Upon receiving his degree, he returned to Algeria to teach, but was sentenced to two years in prison for his criticisms of the government and was exiled to Blida. He lived in France from 1969 till 1972, and then in Rabat, Morocco until 1975. Boudjedra's fiction is written in a difficult, complex style, reminiscent of William Faulkner or Gabriel García Márquez in its intricacy. La Répudiation (1969, "The Repudiation") brought him sudden attention, both for the strength with which he challenged traditional Muslim culture in Algeria and for the strong reaction against him. Because a fatwa was issued which called for his death, he felt he had to live outside of Algeria. He has routinely been called the greatest living North African writer. Boudjedra was awarded the Prix du roman arabe in 2010 for Les Figuiers de Barbarie. André Naffis-Sahely has translated two of his novels into English: Les Figuiers de Barbarie as The Barbary Figs (Haus, 2012) and Les Funérailles as The Funerals (Haus, 2015). Rachid Boudjedra has also been involved in writing a number of films. Chronique des années de braise (Chronicle of the Years of Fire), (dir. by Mohamed Lakhdar-Hamina) which, in 1975 won the Palme d'or at the Cannes Festival. Source: Article "Rachid Boudjedra" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Known For

A Finger in the Works
10.0

The film mixes fiction, filmed documents and interviews which recounts the arrival in Paris of an Algerian immigrant lost in the metro. On December 27, 1968, France and Algeria signed an agreement which admitted each year 35,000 Algerian workers to French territory in the France of the Trente Glorieuses where the annual growth rate reached 5% and where factories lacked workers. Candidates obtain a residence permit valid for 5 years for themselves and their families. Paris is committed to improving professional training and housing conditions for immigrants, too often confined to the most thankless jobs and often housed in slums. A testimony on the living conditions of emigrant workers "economic cannon fodder" of neocolonialism which simultaneously develops its alter ego, institutionalized racism, as a tool of social stagnation and division of the proletarian class.

A Finger in the Works

1974Movie
Ali in Wonderland
9.5

In the 1980s, barely 18 years after Algeria's independence, Algerian immigration to France massively fueled the construction industry, responding to a demand for hard, undervalued labor. Behind the idea of ​​"selective immigration," these men were recruited primarily for their bras and their knock-kneed hands, shaped by construction sites. Invisible yet essential, they built roads, buildings, and infrastructure, often at the cost of precarious conditions. Ali, an Algerian crane operator in France, philosophically accepts the harassment faced by immigrants like himself on construction sites and in daily life. He hopes to escape his situation with the money he wins in the lottery, and from the top of his crane, he allows himself to dream, observing the world through binoculars. One day, the jackpot falls...

Ali in Wonderland

1980Movie