Muhammad Dib and Algerian Resistance Literature

Modern Algerian literature, unique among Arab national literary traditions, features a cultural blend of Arabic, Berber and French influences. The literature reflects their love of Algerian culture and thought, and their revolt against French colonialism. The Algerian-born Arab author Muhammad Dib (1920-2003) wrote in French, mainly about the Algerian struggle for independence. Expelled in 1959 for supporting the Algerian revolution, he settled in Paris. Considered a pioneer of Algerian literature, he was the first Arab Algerian to write Western-style novels. His Algerian trilogy, La Grande Maison, L’Incendie, and Le Métier à tisser, was published between 1952 and 1957. Though autobiographical, the books trace both rural and urban life in pre-revolutionary times. Dib’s 1959 thematically driven novel Un été Africaine (An African Summer), analyzed here, rather than depicting the Algerian revolution itself, describes its effect on the characters and their lives. Nevertheless, the novel, framed around a cross-section of Algerian society, reflects colonial government abuses and the common people’s sacrifices for their dream of independence. Dib also depicts France’s colonialist attitudes as a betrayal of the ideals of the French Revolution and claims to humanitarian values.