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Assia Jabar
a very poignant view into the lives of Algerians during the war of independence.very good translation.

Not gripping, but beautiful language
Much of the language in this novel beautiful, but other parts of the book failed to hold my attention.

I appreciated the handy chart of characters at the beginning of the book, showing how they relate to one another. I found that I referenced this often. But shouldn't the text of the novel itself do a sufficient job of explaining the relationships of characters to one another?

I felt as if I was taking a peak into someone else's world, and as quickly as I was invited in, I was cast out again, without any real resolution or deeper understanding.

The most redeeming qualities of this novel were style of the language and the emphasis put on the struggles and burdens on women in Algeria in the mid 1900s.

Early Nationalist-Romantic Work by Great Artist
Assia Djebar's third novel is a transition to a work that served the Algerian nationalist cause but retained her romantic tone. The Afterward by Clarisse Zimra including interview with Djebar is invaluable.

Ruth Roded ... Read more

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Djebar's first work to be published in English, this collection of three long stories, three short ones, and a theoretical post-face depicts the plight of urban Algerian women who have thrown off the shackles of colonialism only to face a posHColonial regime that denies and subjugates them even as it celebrates the liberation of men.Denounced in Algeria for its political criticism, Djebar's book quickly sold out its first printing of 15,000 copies in France and was hugely popular in Italy.Her stylistically innovative, lyrical stories address the cloistering of women, the implications of reticence, the connection of language to oppression, and the impact of war on both women and men.The afterword by Clarisse Zimra includes an illuminating interview with Djebar. ... Read more

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In this stunning novel, Assia Djebar intertwines the history of her native Algeria with episodes from the life of a young girl. ... Read more

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A Classic of North African Literature
A friend of mine once said that this was her all-time favorite book in French, and though that might seem a bit hyperbolic, I've come to consider it as one of my favorites as well (in fact, I ended up writing my Master's thesis on it, 100 pages, all in French, about this book alone!). The English translation does lack something, so if you can read French, by all means read the original, "L'amour, la fantasia". Djebar is a fascinating person- writer, scholar, and award-winning filmmaker- and this is arguably her best novel. Wrestling a voice for herself from the colonizer's language (French), she also struggles with the cultural implications of "unveiling" herself through that same language to a primarily foreign audience. Her innovative approach to this problematic is to structure her novel like a musical piece (a "fantasia") with various "movements" (chapters alternating between her own autobiography, the history of the fight for control of Algeria, and the "voices" of illiterate women whose stories she's translated and transcribed). The "fantasia" is also a traditional North African equestrian ceremony, in which men parade their horses before going off to battle, and in which women participate on the sidelines, as it were, cheering on the men by ululating. Without giving away the full implications of this double analogy (and hence some key elements of the story), the "fantasia" takes the form, generally, of both the means by which some Algerian woman are able to speak, as well as that of their traditional marginalization in the patriarchal society of Algeria. Musicality, orality, and the written word blend in this highly original work to portray the author's fragmented sense of self, and the final product is rendered in a beautiful prose. If you're interested in sampling some of the finest writing by any French-speaking author today, or are fascinated by these kinds of postcolonial aesthetic problematics, read this book! It's a classic!

A Rich Mosaic of Fragments
This is the first novel written by an Algerian, man or woman, that I have ever read.I suspect that could be true for many readers.As a new voice in my world of literature, then, it's an important book.I saw FANTASIA as a kaleidescope, though, always producing patterns and colors, always arranged, but not always understandable.I found it very hard to judge this work because it has many facets, like a shifted kaleidescope.

***** Five stars for the idea or conception of the novel, for language (if it is well-translated), for the whole effort of bringing a woman's perspective on colonialism, on revolutionary struggle, and on tradition.Djebar is obsessed with the "word", especially the written word and its strength."The word is a torch; to be held up in front of the wall of separation or withdrawal..."Words preserve and pass on memories, tragedies, pain, love and lack of love.Words hold the keys to Algeria's past, the world shattered by the French invasion and conquest of the mid-19th century, when 25 years of war ruined the country. But the French conquerers wrote of it, much more than the Algerian defenders.Their words must be mined for the reality, we must forge the Algerian view from the 'ore'.Words again unite the Algerian women and men who fought France in the 1950s.But those very French words, the language of the conquerers and destroyers, are used to pass on here, in this novel, the very heartfelt, most intimate emotions of the author.She speaks of this.Perhaps silence is more powerful, implying resistance."Writing does not silence the voice, but awakens it, above all to resurrect so many vanished sisters."Those are the sisters who didn't know French, who could not speak out from their cloistered existence.

****For bringing Algerian history to life from an Algerian perspective, and an Algerian woman's view at that, a woman who, through an educated father and schooling escaped the enclosed future that awaited her.The struggle, the never-ending resistance to the occupation of their land.

***The plot of a novel is a fishing line with some attractive hooks for catching readers.If this line is broken too often, no fish can be caught.The novel becomes a collection of beautiful fragments, leaving the reader to imagine what it could be if it were all joined somehow.FANTASIA suffers from a too intricate sub-division of the voices.It is a layered approach, the conflict between two worlds---a conflict that entered even into the author's soul--- it is effective poetically, but not as prose....we lose track of who is saying what, who is related to whom, where everyone fits in.Overall Djebar reaches us, but the novel has an abstract quality that does not emotionally involve us much with any characters. ... Read more

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In Algerian White, Assia Djebar gives a chilling firsthand account of religious extremism and intellectual persecution in her native Algeria. She recounts the lives of three of her friends — a psychiatrist, a sociologist, and a playwright — who were killed in the aftermath of the 1956 struggle for independence. But Djebar will not allow her friends to be silenced. Her powerful memoir grows from conversations remembered and imagined with these fallen comrades and reflects on the horrors of war and exile. This is a chilling first-hand account of the religious extremism and intellectual persecution that plagues the author’s homeland. "A hymn to friendship and the enduring power of language, ... also a requiem for a nation’s unfinished literature." — The New York Times ... Read more

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Perfect Item
This item is great, it was received on time and the condition perfect. Thank you!

glad to have bought it
I bought this book hoping to find info about the algerian writers mentioned on the back cover, what I found was more interesting.. detailed info about the turbulance in algeria, personal experiences,stories and very important history of a sister country our arab jounalism failed to report and/or bring to us. I was happy to have bought the book. ... Read more

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Assia Djebar’s latest novel explores the contradictions of being a modern, educated Algerian woman trying to survive in a man’s society. Set against the backdrop of bloody Carthage, the novel celebrates one woman’s attempt to transcend history.Amazon.com Review
In So Vast the Prison, Assia Djebar takes full advantage of thenovel as a flexible art form, moving majestically between narrative andhistory, bending the book's shape to reflect its concerns. In rich, poeticprose, she describes the women of Algeria and their inner lives of faith,longing, and grief. Aside from their aesthetic value, Djebar's innovativenarrative strategies create an additional poignancy, as the artisticfreedom she enjoys rubs against the restrictions placed on the women whomshe portrays.

The novella-sized first section begins in the capital city of Algiers, inthe world of a post-colonial middle class that straddles French andAlgerian cultures. The narrator, an educated married woman, is consumed bylove for a younger man who works in her office building. This secret,platonic love could happen almost anywhere: her actions are restricted lessby the Islamic society than by her emotional commitment to her marriage and"the watchmen of bourgeois respectability." But when the narrator confidesher hidden feelings to her husband, his response makes clear Algeria's verydifferent history and culture.

He struck and I slipped to the floor.... then I heard him, as if echoingfrom within a prison cell in which he found himself, in which he wrestled,in which he was trying to keep me. From inside this nightmare space, insidethis bodily fear, my eyes closed, and hidden under my arms, under my liftedelbows, under my already bloody hands, I heard and I would almost haveanswered with a laugh, not a madwoman's laugh nor one of tearfulness, butthe laugh of a woman who was relieved and struggling to free herself."Adulteress!" he repeated, "Anywhere, except this city of iniquity, youwould deserve to be stoned!"

Djebar combines themes of narrative and erased histories in the thirdsection, as the narrator seeks to "recapture the deep song strangled in thethroat of my people"--that is, to convey (and thus preserve) the lives ofthe contemporary Algerian women who have been veiled and silenced. Thesection's short narratives, mingled with the experiences of the narratorwhile making a film in rural Algeria, are fascinating and inspiring. ThisAlgeria is a world of women-only ritual dances, bride thieves, gossip inthe hammams (public baths), sorceresses, and an unforgettable8-year-old shepherdess who gazes at the narrator "without real curiositybut with fond indulgence." In Djebar, these stories have found acourageous, gifted teller--though one who is sadly aware that her voice isa lonely substitute for what should be a chorus. --John Ponyicsanyi ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A bit suffocating
I have mixed feelings about So Vast the Prison.Some of it is speedy, compelling reading and some is obfuscating malarkey.I find it difficult to decipher exactly what her objective is and I was never convinced that she herself knew.As someone interested in the varied culture of the Middle East, I did not regret the few hours I spent reading it, but I'm sure there is much better material out there.

Undoubtedly the most horrible book ever!
So vast the Prison is indeed just that: a prison! the writing is so boring and confining. this book however does act as a great sleep aid, everytime i just held the book i fell asleep! save your money, but more importantly your valuable time; no one really cares about this topic anyway.

So Vast the Prison
A somewhat difficult book to read, unless one is familiar with the French post-modernist style (Derrida, Cixous) however well worth the effort. This is an ambitious book that explores the power-relationships between men and women, husbands and wives, colonists and colonized, French and Arabs, Arabs and Berbers as well as the power implicit within spoken and written language, using a poetic, somewhat cinematic style (Djebar is also a film-maker)that meanders between what is apparently a semi-autobiographical narrative and (somewhat)straightforward historical writing, focusing on both modern and ancient Algeria.
This is not a book that one can skim through and still understand: however the end result is insightful and haunting and leaves one wishing for more.

A Very Boring Story
This book is a waste of paper. It is extremely hard to followand it actually puts me to sleep when I read it.

So Vast The Prison
I read the book without knowing what the subject would be. I was happy to find the same style Assia Djebar has acustomed us with.True I didn't see myself in the main character but I could see Algerian women of pre and post-revolution, mostly the city women.I don't think that this book gives a picture of another culture like the previous previewer was hoping to find. Also, the book was translated from French.I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reading about an Algeria that is not darkened by the stereotype of today, fundamentalist, terrorist... ... Read more

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Postcolonial Haunting and Victimization: Assia Djebar’s New Novels treats one of the central problems within the current geo-political conflict between Islam and the West: how the memory of imperialism fuels fundamentalist claims to territory and creates a paradigm of victimization through which martyrdom and terrorism prevail. Through an examination of the most recent works by the award-winning Algerian author Assia Djebar, this book considers how the culture of victimization prevails in postcolonial thought and practice, not only in the West but in formerly colonized territories as well. It examines the work of important postcolonial critics, such as Achille Mbembe and others, in dialogue with the works of Djebar, one of the most popular international postcolonial authors treating these questions from within the contemporary framework. Both in theory and in practice, this book reveals how pervasive haunting and victimization are in the wake of September 11th and provides an alternative way of responding to them. It demonstrates how Djebar’s reticence to explore the details of colonialism marks an important shift in postcolonial literature and criticism and an important attempt to address the dynamics of victimization. Postcolonial Haunting and Victimization will be a great resource to all those interested in the question of Islam and the West as well as to a wide array of readers in the fields of literary and postcolonial studies. ... Read more

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Totally Unique, Moving account of women in Islam
Far from Medina is an absolutely unique book.Picking up where the reputed historians of the time left off, Djebar fills out the female characters in the first community of Islam and in the stories of the Qu'ran.Through her imaginative and soulful writing, important female figures like Fatima, Aisha and Hajar are given voices.

The fact that this text stays close to the historical events that are accounted adds to the meaningfulness of the work.The dimensions of these remarkable women are fleshed out in some of the most important moments of Islamic lore.This is especially valuable for women who are exploring Islam - or for that matter - anyone interested in the feminine side of Islam.

I don't know a book out there that is like this one - and it seems quite unique compared to Djebar's other work.I waited forever to get my hands on another copy.You can usually obtain this book through university libraries.

A Masterpiece!
Djebar has artfully created a uniquely Islamic "ecriture feminine" that revises and revisits early Islamic herstory.Far from Medina was recently adapted as an opera in Europe with Djebar writing the libretto; unfortunately they had a difficult time casting due to Rushdie-esque fears of fundamentalist reprisals. ... Read more

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Literary Disinheritance examines post-nationalist articulations of _home_ in the writing of the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish and the Algerian writer Assia Djebar, providing a rare comparative and interdisciplinary analysis of contemporary writers from the Mashreq and the Maghreb. ... Read more