Djebar - Fantasia : an Algerian cavalcade

This book made available by the Internet Archive.

GLOSSARY

dcira

Dlj

Divan

dollar

'I: flag el Goiini!' fatilia

fellah, fellaheen (pi.)

fraetion

France'

gala in

goiini

goiiniier

giielta

giierha

hadri

hai'k

haniniani

janizarj (janissar)')

jehel

jeniniaa

jihad

kachabia

retinue, lit. cirele, i.e. roving eapital of Abd al-Qadir

('Furk.) ruler ol Regency of Algiers before

French conquest in 1830

(Turk.) council ot state in Regency of Algiers

hamlet or settlement, clan, extended family

battle-cr\, Forward gallop!, lit. Drop the

reins!

introduction to recital o(siira (q.v.)

peasant, derogatorv term used by the French to

refer to the partisans

part of tribe or village

the French army, expression used by the

Algerian peasants during the War of

Independence

wooden stylus used in Quranic school for writing verses from the Qiiran on wooden tablets

Arab militar\- unit, allied to the French

Arab soldier who has enlisted with the French

stream

goatskin for carr> ing water, holding about

twenty litres

citizen, town-dweller

all-enveloping, woollen square of cloth in

which Middle Eastern women cover

themselves out ol doors, leaving only one eve

visible

Turkish bath

(Turk.) intantr\' constituting the Sultans guard and main part of Turkish standing army mountain council of elders

holy war waged on behalf of Islam

cloak worn by peasants and maquisards in

winter to protect them from the cold; worn bv a

girl in the maquis so that the enemy soldiers

will take her for a man

brazier

kanoiin

ivali

yatiiiruu

river or dr\ river bed

(i) a saint; (ii) the saints tomb, a sanetuar\; a representative or prefeet

('I'lirk.) sword, without guard, often double edged

headquarters of an Islamie brotherhood

zaoiiia {zawiyuh)

CHRONOLOGY

1510

29 April 1827

November 1829

2Mareh 1830

May 1830

14June 1830 5 July 1830

30 July 1830

4 January' 1831

Beginning of Turkish rule in Algeiaa Hussein, the Dey ol Algiers, strikes the French consul, starting a crisis in the relations betw een the nvo countries, French begin naval blockade ol Algiers France decides to send military expedition to Algeria, with a view to the conquest of Algiers Charles X announces decision to invade Algiers

Bourmont prepares to sail from Toulon

French land at Sidi Ferruch French troops capture Algiers and Dey Hussein capitulates Revolution in Paris forces Charles X to abdicate. Louis-Philippe proclaimed king. Bourmont, loyal to Charles, w ithdraw s his troops from Bone and Oran, resigns his command and goes into exile in Spain. Clauzel takes over command in Algiers from Bourmont and pursues a policy ol colonization w hich continues for ten years into the hinterland of Algiers and the Mitidja plain

French occupy Oran

22 November 1832

Mareh 1833-September 1834

26 I'\bruar) 1834

22 July 1834

1835

Deeember 1835 1835-36 November 1836

May 1837

July 1837 October 1837 October 1839

November 1839

December 1840

1840-7

Abd al-(^adir elected supreme Oommander ot the Faithful; establishes militarv base at Mascara; emerges as leader of resistance against French Colonization of Mitidja plain progresses rapidly, with 6,000 troops stationed at Blida Gen. Desmichels, commander of French forces in Oran, and Abd al-(.ictdir sign treat} ending hostilities, and recognizing the Amirs jurisdiction over territorv in neighbourhood of Oran Position of Governor-General of French Possessions in N. Africa established

Abd al-Qadir continues attacks on French posts

Field-Marshal Clauzel attacks Mascara, the Amirs capital Continued clashes between French forces and those of the Amir Attempt to take Constantine by force fails, the French losing about 1,000 men

Gen. Bugcaud signs treat}' with Abd al-Qadir

Hostilities resumed F'reneh capture Constantine Field-Marshal Valce leads militar}' column towards Algiers The Amir retaliates by invading Mitidja plain

Governor-General \'alce replaced by Gen. Bugcaud. Gen. Lamoriciere appointed in Oran Bugcaud pursues policy of total occupation and war takes on cruel

November 1843 21 December 1847

1848-52

1852

1883

1939

1940 1945 1954

1962

1968

character, b'our reeorded incidents ()1 I rench otfieers ordering burning of defeated groups of Muslims in eaves

The Amir seeks asylum in Moroeeo Abd al-(^idir surrenders to the brench

I le is held in Freneh prison, despite promise ol sale conduct to the East Napoleon III orders Abd al-Qadirs release

Abd al-Qctdir dies in Damascus Outbreak of Second World War German occupation of France f.nd ol Second \\ orld W ar in Fmrope Start ol the Algerian \\ ar of Independence

End of Algerian W ar. De Gaulle grants Algeria independence Abd al-Qadir s remains transferred from Damascus to Algiers lor burial

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INTRODUCTION

W hen Assia Djcbar published L amour, la fantasia in 1985, she had alreadv established her reputation as the major woman writer from the iMaghreb, with lour novels in French to her name by the time she was thirt}'. She then announced that she was abandoning fiction writing in particular, writing in French - and from 1962 devoted herself to teaching history at the Universit} ol Algiers. However, during the ensuing twelve years of silence, she tried to tackle the problem of the passage from writing in French to writing in Arabic, to which she found a partial solution in the cinema with her film La Nouha des femmes du Mont Chenoua which was awarded the Critics Prize at the \ cnicc Biennale 1979. The film, in which musical sequences alternate w ith testimonies in Arabic, is based on the experiences of Algerian peasant women during the W ar of Independence - material which the author introduces into the second part of L amour, la fantasia, in the chapters which she entitles A oice. W hen Assia Djebar returns to fiction writing, the result of this long maturation period is to be seen in the originalin- and complexin and also in the interw oven themes of her works. After a volume of short stories, published in 1980, speeifically dealing with the lives of contemporary urban Algerian women.* Femmes d'Alger dans leur appartement, came the first two parts of a projected Algerian Quartet, published in 1985 and 1987 respectively.