Do You Hear in the Mountains... and Other Stories

by Maïssa Bey, Erin Lamm (Translation)

This new translation brings together two of Algerian author Maïssa Bey's important works for the first time in English. "Do You Hear in the Mountains..." is a compelling piece of autofiction in which three destinies meet dramatically on a train moving through France. We meet an Algerian refugee, whom we recognize as Bey herself. She has escaped the civil war and cannot forget her father's commitment to independence nor his death under the torture of the French soldiers. Sitting near her is a retired doctor whose military service in Algeria coincidentally took him to the same area at the time of that tragedy. Their neighbor is a girl who would like to understand this past that is so painful to discuss. The eleven diverse tales that follow, presented under the title "Under the Jasmin, at Night," exemplify some of Bey's recurring themes--the Franco-Algerian colonial legacy and the feminine condition. Together, these works provide an unforgettable picture of a turbulent history that reaches across generations and continents.

CARAF: Caribbean and African Literature Translated from French

Genres: Historical Fiction, Algeria, African Literature

196 pages, Paperback

Published September 19, 2018

About the author

Maïssa Bey nom de plume de Samia Benameur, née en 1950 à Ksar el Boukhari (Algérie).
Elle suit des études universitaires de lettres à Alger puis elle enseigne le français à Sidi-Bel-Abbès dans l'ouest algérien.
Elle a écrit plusieurs romans, des nouvelles, des pièces de théâtre, des poèmes et des essais. Elle a reçu en 2005 le grand prix des libraires algériens pour l'ensemble de son œuvre.

Reviews

[jess ~has abandoned GR~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have you ever finished reading a book and found yourself sitting there, just sitting there, letting the story really saturate your mind. and thinking to yourself "oh my gosh, we are all just human beings."

Well, if you haven't, I'd recommend the experience.

The best word for this book is profound. It is existential, for sure, but not dark or brooding.

In the opening story (which is also the longest), a young Algerian woman fleeing the devastation that had been visited upon Algeria and her family during the Algeria War finds herself in the company of an elderly French man and young French woman who each had very different experiences during the war. This collision of souls lays bare the absurdity and cruelty of war, as these individuals who had been on opposing sides now find themselves sitting peaceably together in a train car.

Each story is brief and poetic and open to interpretation. It would be lovely to discuss these stories with someone else who had read them, and this book deserves a wider release in a more accessible format.



World Reading Challenge: Algeria