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Hiddleston, Jane. Assia Djebar: Out of Algeria. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2006. 215 pp., $70 (cloth).
Critical readings of Assia Djebar have increased exponentially in recent years, no doubt encouraged by the growing interest in postcolonial francophone studies (as it is now currently called in the English-speaking world) and by a new concern with the situation of women in Islam that has moved into tragic prominence at the turn of the century. Long seen as a major figure on the international scene, Djebar has been recognized even in France when she recently became the first Algerian writer elected to the prestigious Académie Française. Her work has already been studied, particularly in the Anglo-American world, by an impressive number of gifted critics and theorists, who have read it from various perspectives. Yet, even in this distinguished company, the recent study by Jane Hiddleston, Assia Djebar: Out of Algeria, is sure to occupy an important place.
Perhaps the most outstanding accomplishment of this invaluable work is its project of tracing the evolution of Djebar's literary trajectory through a multiplicity of literary forms. A glance at the Djebar bibliography shows that a great deal of published criticism has focused on her autobiographical/feminist works, particularly her well-known L'Amour, la fantasia, the first of her novels to attract widespread critical recognition. More recently, attention has been given to her treatment of the experience of Muslim women and her analyses of the...