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| Zoulikha Saoudi 20 December 1943 - 22 November 1972 |
"I was born in 1944, and followed my first years of study at the mosque of Sidi Lazhar's koranic school, in the city of Khenchela … At 9 years of age, I transferred to primary school in Khenchela. My first teacher was Belkacem Djebaili, and the man of letters Mahboub Boutaleb - it is he who encouraged me to read and guided me toward literature. At the end of my fourth year of study, I obtained my CEP certificate. I was 13 years-old then, and from that time I stayed confined at home. I could no longer go out, my only reason to live became reading and my thirst for knowledge… In 1957, I collected a few prose poems in a little notebook, a collection I called 'Revelations of Pain'. Three years later, in 1960, I scribbled an additional seven short-stories in a second notebook, the themes of which were society and women's struggles within it. I called it 'Sketches of awareness'." (extract of a letter by Zoulikha Saoudi sent in 1960 to the poet Sayehi El Kabir, as quoted by Waciny Laaredj).
I was searching through Banipal's archive when I found their special issue on Algerian literature (magazine no. 7 published in 2000), a beautiful volume illustrated by the visual artist Rachid Koraichi (excuse the library sticker).
The section dedicated to Algerian literature is introduced by Waciny Laaredj whose opening piece titled "Breaking the silence on Algerian literature" pays tribute to Zoulikha Saoudi, calling her "the greatest Algerian writer in Arabic". Laaredj deplores that Zoulikha Saoudi has been entirely forgotten from the Algerian literary canon, and that instead of talking about 'the father of the Algerian novel in Arabic', we should all be discussing 'the mother of the Algerian novel'.
I'm ashamed to say that until reading Laaredj's article, I had not heard of this writer, and upon searching for more information I found several more pieces published in the Algerian press, by Waciny Laaredj who describes Saoudi's journey as a writer.
Zoulikha Saoudi was born on 20 December 1943 in Khenchela (Babar), and passed away on 22 November 1972 in Algiers, during a hospitalisation to help a difficult pregnancy. She wrote many short stories, plays, poetry, and a novel (1963). Laaredj says that the style and theme of her novel were pioneering and opened a new era, not only in Algerian fiction, but also for Algerian female novelists.
Zoulikha Saoudi's work was not published in book format. She read many of her stories on the radio to her audience under the pseudonym 'Amal' (she was also a radio journalist), and much of her work was published in newspapers, and serialised.
In his 2006 article in El Watan newspaper, Laaredj mentions that her first short story was titled 'The Victim' "written in 1960 and aired on the radio with the help of her dear friend, the poet Sayehi El Kabir". She then began to publish in the newspaper El Ahrar, as well as in El Djazaïria and El Fadjr. Her novella 'Arjouna' (We hoped) was published in the first issue of a magazine called 'Amal'. Her first novel, 'Al-Dhawaban' (The dissolution) was published as a series in the newspaper El-Ahrar (no. 24) from 11 February 1963. Laaredj describes it as a biographical novel inspired by the life of her brother who loved theatre (he was murdered soon after independence). The novel recounts the story of a man who goes to Cairo, attracted to the theatre scene there, and it describes his encounter with the city and with his theatre idols, such as Youcef Wahbi.
In that same article, Laaredj mentions that Saoudi's collection called "Ahlam el-rabi3" (Spring Dreams) and her correspondence were gathered by the Algerian poet Zaynab Laouedj (his wife), with the help of Sayehi El Kabir, Mohammed Lazrak, and Saoudi's family. I was told by Zaynab Laouedj in a private communication that she hopes to publish the gathered work in a volume soon (post 2019).
The task of collecting Zoulikha Saoudi's work was also undertaken by the scholar Ahmed Cheribet. The material he collected - short stories, letters, plays, poetry, articles, was published in 2001 in an anthology titled:
الآثار الأدبية الكاملة للأديبة الجزائرية، زليخا السعودي، 1943-1972
This book is very hard to find, and I would not have had access to it had it not been shared with me as a pdf (thank you Kamil). Since it is so rare, I share it here. Download and enjoy!
*this post was updated on 8 December 2019*
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