Description: The book explores the relationship between aesthetics and politics in the postcolonial Algerian novel, examining six novels written by two Algerian authors of French expression, Tahar Djaout and Rachid Mimouni.
Brief description: Rajeshwari S. Vallury is Director of Women's Studies and Associate Professor of French at the University of New Mexico. She is the author of 'Surfacing' the Politics of Desire: Literature, Feminism, and Myth (2008)
Review Quotes: "Vallury offers an engaging study of works by authors Rachid Mimouni and Tahar Djaout. She effectively demonstrates that these writers of French expression use allegory and metaphor to recast the Algerian nation as a utopic space that allows for democratic dissension and political subversion. She defines literary metaphors as sources of poetic valence that enable debates in political justice and equality. These debates continue to be relevant in the contentious sociopolitical arenas of present-day Algeria." --Valerie Orlando, Professor, French and Francophone Literatures and Cultures, University of Maryland