Mohammed Dib Biography and List of Works

Prolific Algerian French-language novelist, short story writer, and poet. Many of Dib's novels present archetypal characters who represent contrasting forces in society - good and evil. Among Dib's acclaimed works is his trilogy Algérie (1952-1954), which paints a portrait of the plight of the poor peasants and workers.

OUVRIR

Quelqu'un, dit l'enfant
Pourrait m'ouvrir?

Quelque chose est là.
Pas loin, à côté.

Qui voudra m'ouvrir
Cette porte? Qui voudra?

Mohammed Dib was born in Tlemcen in western Algeria. He never attended the traditional Koranic school but was raised as a Muslim. He began to write poems at the age of fifteen. Between the years 1939 and 1959 Dib worked in odd jobs - as a teacher, accountant, weaver, interpreter, and journalist. In 1959 he moved to France.

As a novelist Dib made his debut with La grande maison, which was published in 1952, two years before the outbreak of the Algerian revolution. He was a member of the group known as the "Generation of '52," they year when Dib and Mouloud Mammeri appeared, or sometimes called the "Generation of '54" according to the war. His first novel was set on the eve of World War II. The protagonist was a young boy, Omar, whose life in the early years of war in the poor rural region is followed in Dib's second novel, L'Incendie. The last part of theAlgérie trilogy, Le Métier à tisser (1957), told about the world of the workers. The story was told in the naturalist-realist style reminiscent of Emile Zola.

Although many of Dib's socio-political novels are composed with traditional narrative technique, he has abandoned the realistic mode in some works to convey mythic or apocalyptic visions. Among Dib's experimental publications, inspired by Cubism, science fiction, Faulkner, Kafka, and the ideas of Jung, are such books as Qui se souvient de la mer (1962), set in a crumbling, science fiction like city in the time of the Algerian revolution, Cours sur la rive sauvage (1964) and La danse du roi (1968), written in fragmented style, and Habel (1977), exploring the question of androgyny.

LA BÊTE

Une bête vint le chercher.
Il eut moins peur que de rester.

Ils eurent la porte à passer.
La porte en plus de la nuit.

Le garçon ferma les yeux.
Les mots ne parlèrent plus.

Quelque chose sur la route
Les prit alors en pitié.

Between the years 1985 and 1994 Dib created a series of novels, which more or less followed a coherent and chronological order, and reflected the personal life of the author. Les Terrasses d'Orsol (1985) was set in a fictitious Arab country, but made an excursion to a cold country in the north. Le Sommeil d'Éve (1989) and Neiges de Marbre (1990) were set in a Nordic country (Finland?) and depicted a romance between a Nordic woman and Mediterranean man. They have a child but are estranged. In L'Infante maure (1994) the child is taken to her father's homeland and se sees the other part of her heritage.

In 1961 Dib published his first collection of poems, Ombre gardienne. Dib's poems are characterized by ambiguity, wordplays, elliptical syntax, and subtle eroticism. Many poems bring to mind polygonal and foliate designs from the Islamic art. His other collections include Formulaires (1970), Omneros (1975), Feu beau feu (1979), and Ó vive (1987).

For further reading: The Encyclopaedia of World Literature, ed. by Steven R. Serafin (1999, vol. 1); World Authors 1985-1990, ed. by Vineta Colby (1995); Mohammed Dib by J. Déjeux (1987); Mohammed Dib, écrivain algérien by J. Déjeux (1977); North African Writing, ed. by L. Ortzen (1970) - See also: Mohammed Dib; Mohammed Dib by Naget Khadda - Note: In Morocco Driss Chraïbi made his debut as a novelist in 1954. Like Dib, Chraibi was influenced by the American writer William Faulkner.

La grande maison, (1952)