Biography
Rachid Boudjedra was born on 5 September 1941 in Aïn Beïda. His father sent him to Tunisia for secondary school, and he spent seven years at Collège Sadiki. In 1959 he joined the maquis during the war of independence. He was wounded several times and later travelled through countries in Eastern Europe.
He subsequently represented the FLN in Spain and returned to Algeria after independence in 1962, when he also took on a student leadership role. Boudjedra continued his studies in Paris, completing a philosophy degree at the Sorbonne in 1965. He then taught at a girls' secondary school in Blida.
Career and writing
Boudjedra lived in France from 1969 to 1972 and in Rabat from 1972 to 1975. Back in Algeria, he taught in higher education. In October 1977 he was appointed an adviser at the Ministry of Information and Culture, while also writing literary columns in Arabic and French for SNED publications and the press.
His bibliography began with poetry and essays before the novel became his main form. From the novel he published in 1981, he generally issued the Arabic text first and then prepared a French version. For Le Démantèlement, translated from Ettafakouk, Boudjedra described the French text as a rewriting rather than a straightforward translation.
Selected works
- Pour ne plus rêver (1965)
- La Répudiation (1969)
- Naissance du cinéma algérien (1971)
- La Vie quotidienne en Algérie (1971)
- L'Insolation (1972)
- Journal palestinien (1972)
- Topographie idéale pour une agression caractérisée (1975)
- L'Escargot entêté (1977)
- Les 1001 Années de la nostalgie (1979)
- Le Vainqueur de coupe (1981)
- Le Démantèlement / Ettafakouk (1982)
- La Prise de Gibraltar / Maarakat ez zoukak