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The Last Summer of Reason
Publisher
:
Editions du Seuil
Parution date
:
1999
EAN
:
9782020367103
Description
This elegant and haunting novel casts us deep into the world of bookstore owner Boualem Yekker. He lives in a country being overtaken by a radically conservative party known as the Vigilant Brothers, a group that seeks to control every element of life according to the laws of their stringent moral theology: no work of beauty created by human hands should rival the wonders of their god. Once treasured, art and literature are now despised.
Silently holding his ground, Boualem withstands the new regime, using the shop and his personal history as weapons against puritanical forces. Readers are taken into the lush depths of the bookseller’s dreams, the memories of his now empty family life, his passion for literature–then yanked back into the terror and drudgery of his daily routine by vandalism, assaults and death warrants that afflict him.
From renowned Algerian author Tahar Djaout we inherit a brutal and startling story that reveals how far an ordinary human being will go to maintain hope.
Author
Tahar Djaout : On May 26, 1993, novelist, poet, and journalist Tahar Djaout was attacked by several assassins as he was leaving his home in Bainem, Algeria. He died on June 2 after lying in a coma for a week. Djaout’s death was attributed to an Islamic fundamentalist group. One of his attackers professed that he was murdered because he "wielded a fearsome pen that could have an effect on Islamic sectors." The manuscript of this novel, the Last Summer of Reason, was found among Djaout’s papers after his death. Author of eleven books of poetry and fiction, including the novel .Les vigiles (winner of the Prix Méditerranée), Djaout was considered one of the most promising writers of his generation.
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