Children of the New World: A Novel of the Algerian War

Abstract

Th is novel is not only engrossing as fi ction, it also tells us intimately about Algeria's war of national liberation (1954-62) and helps us under- stand what it means to be involved in military and civil resistance. Trans- lated for the fi rst time into English from the original French (Enfants du nouveau monde, 1962), it is remarkable how fresh and captivating this text remains half a century aft er the events it depicts. It is for critics to ponder how literature can preserve such immediacy despite the datedness of the revolutionary struggle. Th e theme is relevant partly because the struggles of occupied people nowadays—whether in Palestine, Lebanon, or Iraq—raise the same issues and tensions, and partly because—inde- pendent of the strife in the Middle East—the struggle of the dispossessed against overpowering forces moves people. But Children of the New World, lyrical and sophisticated as it is, is not a socialist realist work, proclaiming a brave new world with formulaic bluntness. It is a work that explores rather than states, evokes rather than invokes. Assia Djebar (the pen name of Fatma-Zohra Imalhayene) is an ac- claimed Algerian novelist and feminist. Th is novel incorporates feminist issues as a subtext while delineating a gallery of characters. Th e genius of Djebar lies in her compelling fi ctional characterization. No matter how little we know about the Algerian state half a century ago, we feel we know the characters since they possess psychological verisi- militude. Th e bondings between couples as well as their impasses are foregrounded. Traditional illiterate women (Cherifa, Amna, and Lla Aicha) are not dismissed in favor of modernized educated women (Lila, Salima, Suzanne, and Hassiba). Each of the female characters asserts herself and forges her own gendered identity despite lurking patriarchal restrictions. Th e struggle then is two-fold: against the foreign enemy that confi scates land and dispossesses Algerians, and against the enemy within, the customs and traditions that oppress women. Hassiba, the young woman who joins the freedom fi ghters in the mountains, is an example of the emancipated native woman, yet she is not portrayed

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