Tahar Djaout

Tahar Djaout (January 11, 1954 – June 2, 1993) was an Algerian journalist, poet, and fiction writer. He was assassinated in 1993 by the Armed Islamic Group.

Tahar Djaout
Born(1954-01-11)January 11, 1954
Oulkhou, Algeria
DiedJune 2, 1993(1993-06-02) (aged 39)
Algiers, Algeria
OccupationJournalist, poet
LanguageFrench language
NationalityAlgerian
Signature

Early life

He was born in 1954 in Oulkhou, a village in the Kabylie region. After university he worked as a journalist for Algérie Actualité, and by the late 1980s, he became one of Algeria's foremost literary talents.[1]

Assassination

He was assassinated by the Armed Islamic Group because of his support of secularism and opposition to what he considered fanaticism. He was attacked on May 26, 1993, as he was leaving his home in Algiers, Algeria. He died on June 2, after lying in a coma for a week. One of his attackers professed that he was murdered because he "wielded a fearsome pen that could have an effect on Islamic sectors."[2]

After his death the BBC made a documentary about him entitled 'Shooting the Writer', introduced by Salman Rushdie.

Work
  • The Last Summer of Reason Novel, Ruminator Books, 2001] (French edn: Le dernier été de la raison, Paris, Seuil, 1999]
  • The Watchers [Novel, Ruminator Books] (French edn: Les Vigiles, Editions du Seuil, 1991)
  • L'invention du Desert, [Novel, Editions du Seuil, 1987]
  • Les Chercheurs d'Os [Novel, Editions du Seuil, 1984]
  • Les Rets de l'oiseleur (short stories) [SNED, Algiers, 1983]
  • L'oiseau minéral, poems, [Sigean, L'Orycte, 1982]
  • L'exproprié, [Novel, SNED, Algiers, 1981]
  • Insulaire et Cie, poems [Sigean, L'Orycte, 1980]
  • L'Arche à vau-l'eau, poems [Editions Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris, 1978]
  • Solstice Barbelé, poems, [Editions Naaman, Québec, 1975]
  • Tahar Djaout
  • Silence is Death: The Life and Work of Tahar Djaout by Julija Sukys
  • "Islamists Killed Tahar Djaout: We Should Give Life to His Ideas," by Jennifer Bryson, January 16, 2009,
  • Ali Chibani, Tahar Djaout et Lounis Aït Menguellet. Temps clos et ruptures spatiales, Paris, L'Harmattan, 2012.

References
  1. James McDougall (April 24, 2017). A History of Algeria. Cambridge University Press. p. 290. ISBN 978-0-521-85164-0.
  2. Tolan, Fiona; Morton, Stephen; Valassopoulos, Anastasia; et al. (eds.). Literature, Migration and the 'War on Terror. Routledge. p. 176. ISBN 0415845688.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.