Nedjma

New York: George Braziller, 1961. "A novel of Algeria", the jacket notes, "at once realistic and symbolist, its quality often Faulknerian"; involving a search for the heart of Algeria and revolving around four men's obsession with Nedjma, a married woman with enigmatic & troubling origins. It further uses Arabic notions of time, circular as opposed to the European concept of linear time. The author, born into a scholarly family of Berber heritage in Algeria, became a notable activist for Algerian nationalism and the Berber people, opposing colonialism, and later noting he wrote in French to show the French he was NOT French. He later wrote in Berber Arabic as well as French, writing plays & novels critical of colonialism & some traditional ideas. Travelling frequently, he was influenced by Baudelaire, Brecht, & Sartre as well as Arabic culture. Nedjma is his first novel, here in its first edition in English, stated first printing, hardcover in jacket as pictured; first published in French five years earlier. Light wear to book, but some discoloration to covers, corners rubbed; jacket rubbed & smudged with some fading to spine, light chipping. Text clean, no names or marks; 344 pages, brief preface by the editors.. First American Edition. Hard Cover. Good/Good. Small Octavo.