Salhi, Kamal

About the author: Dr. Kamal Salhi received his PhD from the University of Exeter. He is Lecturer in French and Francophone Studies at Leeds, and Director of the Centre for Francophone Studies.

Politics and Aesthetics of Kateb Yacine from Francophone Literature to Popular Theatre in Algeria and Outside

1999 0-7734-7871-X
A review of Kateb Yacine’s writing throughout his career. It illustrates Yacine’s intellectual journal from the literary novel through the conventional forms of drama to the creation of the authentic, popular style of performance that he took to the people. His quest for identity became comprehensible in Nedjma and was constantly being renewed and reborn throughout his works in a way that reflected the changing social conditions of Algeria as it gained independence and sought to establish itself as a nation state. The contrast between pre- and post- Independence Algeria runs through the whole book and helps the reader gain new insight into the consistency and evolution of Kateb Yacine’s work.