Yamina Méchakra
| Yamina Méchakra | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
1949 Meskiana |
| Died |
May 19, 2013 Algiers |
| Nationality | Algerian |
| Alma mater | University of Algiers |
| Genre | novel |
Yamina Méchakra (1949 Meskiana – 2013 Algiers) was an Algerian novelist.[1]
Life
Méchakra was born in 1949 in Meskiana in northern Aures. From the age of nine, she began writing; taking notes in a "log-book" that grew over time. Two events that profoundly marked her childhood were: her father being tortured by the French during the war, and the vision of a man exposed in the street, dying, attached to the barrel of a tank.[2] Little more is known of the life of Yamina Méchakra, but Kateb Yacine wrote in the preface to her book that she had a "cruel and troubled life".[3]
Yamina Méchakra began writing her first novel in 1973, while studying psychiatry at the University of Algiers. Her university thesis in literature was devoted to Apuleius of Madaurus. In Algiers, she met Kateb Yacine before his departure for Rome and Paris. Her novel was published for the first time in 1979.[4]
She continued to write during the succeeding years, but did not publish, confiding to a reporter that she lost her manuscripts. In 1997, when she treated a young boy, she was inspired by her notes to write her second novel Arris, which was published in 1999.[3]
She died in Algiers on May 19, 2013, at the age of 64, following a long illness.
Legacy
On May 20, 2013, a memorial was held at the Palace of Culture; and she was buried the same day in the cemetery of Sidi Yahia.[5]
Works
- La Grotte éclatée (1979); Enag éd., 2000 ISBN 9789961621714 [6][7]
- Arris: roman Marsa éditions, 1999
References
- ↑ "Yamina Mechakra". The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French. doi:10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100146186.
- ↑ Lazreg, Marnia (2014-04-23). The Eloquence of Silence: Algerian Women in Question. Routledge. ISBN 9781134713301.
- 1 2 Orlando, Valérie (2003-01-01). Of Suffocated Hearts and Tortured Souls: Seeking Subjecthood Through Madness in Francophone Women's Writing of Africa and the Caribbean. Lexington Books. ISBN 9780739105634.
- ↑ Fort, Pierre-Louis; Chaulet-Achour, Christiane (2013-12-17). La France et l'Algérie en 1962: De l'histoire aux représentations textuelles d'une fin de guerre (in French). KARTHALA Editions. ISBN 9782811110475.
- ↑ "Décès de la romancière algérienne Yamina Mechakra à l'âge de 64 ans". Djazairess. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
- ↑ Jones, Christa (2011-01-01). "La Caverne algérienne chez Yamina Méchakra et Georges Buis: Lieu de résistance, de maternité ou de combat". Nouvelles Études Francophones 26 (1): 135–149. doi:10.1353/nef.2011.0025. ISSN 2156-9428.
- ↑ Yamina Mechakra. "Women Warriors and the Search for Identity in Post-colonial Algeria: La Grotte éclatée". Ojs.geneseo.edu. Retrieved 2016-03-30.
External links
- This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the French Wikipedia.
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