Ni Oiseau ni Poisson: Algerian Jewish Literature

Abstract

Literature has always been a refuge and a means of resistance for ethnic minorities. Algerian Jewish Literature has evolved through time as a testimony of existence. It reiterates the echo of the Algerian Jewish experience on the Algerian soil with all its intricacies, during the French colonization. Algerian Jewish literature provides today an interesting workspace to study the historical tie between two religions, two cultures, two memories that split due to a historical choice. The Cremieux decree, was a kind of favoritism to Jews that distant them absolutely from people they lived with for centuries. The article examines assimilation of Jews to the French that worked well since the beginning of colonization. Identification to the French has been ultimate and critical in the eyes of the Muslims. With the coming of independence, exile became more and more central. Though exile is a recurrent phenomenon for Jews, it is nevertheless a step in the making of their identity in the French society. By 1962, Jews were completely strangers in their native land and exile became an obligatory step. The Jews have probably whispered the victory of France, they dreamt of it while aspiring to remain home. When the time was for departure, many Jews were still assuming a happy end for France, but the events went differently.