Silence Is Death: The Life and Work of Tahar Djaout (France Overseas: Studies in Empire and D)

213 Pages·2007·1.68 MB·English

by  Julija Sukys

Silence Is Death
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Silence
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9 France Overseas: Studies in
0 Empire and Decolonization
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Philip Boucher
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A. J. B. Johnston
4 James D. Le Sueur
5 Tyler Stovall
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Is Death
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The Life and Work of Tahar Djaout
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JULIJA ŠUKYS 1
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University of Nebraska Press • Lincoln & London 3
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©2007 by the Board of Regents
of the University of Nebraska
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the
United States of America
(cid:146)
A part of “Dialogues with the Dead”
originally appeared under the title
“The Hypothetical Skeleton
(A Letter to Tahar Djaout)” in
Culture, Theory and Critique45
0 (April2004):63–76,
http://www.tandf.co.uk.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-
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in-Publication Data
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5 Šukys, Julija.
Silence is death: the life and
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work of Tahar Djaout / Julija Šukys.
7 p. cm. — (France overseas)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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isbn-13:978-0-8032-4320-0 (cloth: alk. paper)
9 isbn-10:0-8032-4320-0 (cloth: alk. paper)
0 1. Djaout, Tahar, 1954–
2. Authors, Algerian—20th century
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—Biography. I. Title.
2 pq3989.2.d538z87 2007
843’.914—dc22
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[B] 2006050020
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For Tahar Djaout.
And for Sean Gurd,
in a different way.
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Mon histoire risque, selon toute apparence,
de se transformer en biographie.
Il faut bien veiller à cela.
By all appearances, my story is in
danger of becoming a biography.
I must be careful of that.
—tahar djaout
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
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Part One
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1. Welcome to Elkader 3
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2. The Death of the Author 14
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Part Two 1
3. Poetry, Prose, and the Politics of Writing in Algeria 41 1
4. Final Projects 64 1
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Part Three
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5. Dialogues with the Dead 87
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6. Voyage Immobile 115
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7. A Posthumous Interview with Tahar Djaout 135
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Notes 145 2
Works Cited 181 2
Index 193 2
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A constant presence throughout the writing of this book was
the voice of Linda Hutcheon, though it spoke mostly inside 1
my head and occasionally from inside my e-mail inbox. The 1
power of a kind word from the right person at the right time 1
cannot be underestimated, and Linda knows this better than 1
most. I owe her many thanks for the lessons she taught while 1
I was her graduate student at the University of Toronto (I 1
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carry these with me), and that she continues to teach now by
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example.
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This book was written during a particularly nomadic stage
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of life that took me from Chicago to Paris, Sydney, Jerusa-
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lem, Toronto, Cincinnati, and Montréal. In each city I found
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people who gave me support, ideas, sustenance, often a place
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to work, and occasionally a place to sleep.
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I owe thanks to Andrew Wachtel and Mireille Rosello. Both
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supported this project intellectually and administratively dur-
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ing my tenure as a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern Uni-
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versity, where this project was begun. Russell Clement gave
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me a workspace at the university’s beautiful art library, where
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crucial portions of this text were conceived. This small ges-
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ture of his proved to be revolutionary for me and my writing,
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and for this reason I cannot thank him enough.
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At the University of Sydney, Australia, Suzanne Rutland
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welcomed me as a visiting scholar. Konrad Kwiet and Lucy
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Davey generously shared their workspace, warmth, and 3
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