Rachid Boudjedra - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Rachid Boudjedra (b. September 5, 1941 in Ain Beida

Aïn Beïda

Aïn Beïda is a city and municipality located in Oum El Bouaghi Province, Algeria, south east of Constantine and north of Khenchla, inhabitated by Chaouis. As of 1998 its population was 88,300.-Etymology:...

, Algeria) is an Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

n writer and educator who has published numerous poems, essays and novels. Before 1982, these were generally in French, but since then he has concentrated on writing in Arabic. He was born in Aïn Beïda

Aïn Beïda

, Algeria

Algeria

, where he was active in the independence movement. He received his degree in philosophy from the Sorbonne

Sorbonne

The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...

, where he did research on Céline

Louis-Ferdinand Céline

Louis-Ferdinand Céline was the pen name of French writer and physician Louis-Ferdinand Destouches . Céline was chosen after his grandmother's first name. He is considered one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century, developing a new style of writing that modernized both French and...

. Upon receiving his degree, he returned to Algeria to teach at Blida

Blida

Blida is a city in Algeria. It is the capital of Blida Province, and it is located about 45 km south-west of Algiers, the national capital. The name Blida, i.e...

, but left after Houari Boumédienne seized power. He lived in France from 1969 till 1972, and then in Rabat

Rabat

Rabat , is the capital and third largest city of the Kingdom of Morocco with a population of approximately 650,000...

, Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

until 1975.

Boudjedra's fiction is written in a difficult, complex style, reminiscent of Faulkner

William Faulkner

William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...

or García Márquez

Gabriel García Márquez

Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...

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

Fatwa

A fatwā in the Islamic faith is a juristic ruling concerning Islamic law issued by an Islamic scholar. In Sunni Islam any fatwā is non-binding, whereas in Shia Islam it could be considered by an individual as binding, depending on his or her relation to the scholar. The person who issues a fatwā...

was issued which called for his death, he felt he had to live outside of Algeria. Despite his reputation in both the Arabic- and French-speaking worlds, there is a dearth of English translations.

Further reading