Skip to main content

A 1969 copy of Nedjma by Kateb Yacine, illustrated with 9 painting by Issiakhem

 

M'hamed Issiakhem seems to have regularly illustrated the work of writers who were his contemporaries. His portrait of Malek Haddad opens the latter's poetry collection ‘Le malheur en danger’ (Misfortune in Danger) published by Bouchène editions in 1988:

 

 


And the edition of Ismael Ait Djafer's long poem 'The complaint' also published by Bouchene, in 1987, contain Issiakhem's portrait of the poet.

 

 (Photo trouvée sur Albatroz Blog4ever)


Copies of Le malheur en danger are almost impossible to find except in specialised universty libraries so i scanned it here and it can be downloaded as a PDF here. The edition of La complainte by Ait Djafer is no longer in circulation, so I scanned it also, click on the link for a PDF of the copy. I couldn't find a resonably priced copy of the Bouchene edition, but the edition I have and which is placed online here is by Novetlé Massalia and it contains Aït Djafer's second long poem called 'Cri’ [Scream]). See here for a blog post about it.

 

 



 

Nedjma, Kateb Yacine's novel is another exemple of an interwining of text and visual art, with a collaboration between Kateb Yacine and Issiakhem. In 1969, it seems that Algeria's ministry of education and the national syndicate of teachers came together to produce an A4 volume of Nedjma, accompagnied by nine paintings made by M'hamed Issiakhem inspired by the novel, and printed as lithographs. This enormous book is in fact the 12th volume of Burin editions called 'Les portes de la vie' (Life's doors). From 1968, Burin published a collection of 17 volumes that presented a country through a literary text perceived as a key text:

 

 


(Photo of the entire collection found on ebay.fr : it shows all 17 volumes, from a slim book that presents the collection, followes in order by a volume for Poland, India, Italy, USSR, USA, Israel, Japan, Great Britain, RAU, Sweden, Algeria, Chili, Canada, Cuba, Senegal, China)

 

In this edition, the novel Nedjma is to be found between three essays that, a few years after independence, speak about the ministry of education's projects for a free and accessible school for all.

 

Two essays precede Nedjma. The first is a short two-page messave by Dr Ahmed Taleb, then Minister of Education, who underlines the importance of school for the country's (re)construction. The message is followed by an essay written by Pierre Desvalois, the former secretary general to the National Syndicate of Teachers, in which the author retraces the history of Algeria, from before colonisation to its then-current cultural renewal post 1962. The last essay written by Bouzid Hamiche, regional director of Plans and Statistics, to which M.A. Serradj participated, close the volume. These two authors present the education in Algeria before and during colonisation, and projects for an education for all put in place after independence, like alphabetization, technical education, school canteens, and the promotion of physical education for both boys and girls (the whole illustrated with black and white photos of youth at school).

 


(Les portes de la vie, Algérie, page 342)

 

And in between these essays lies a jewel: nine paintings by Issiakhem, in colour, that follow the story of Nedjma. Because this book is no longer in circulation I scanned the illustrations to share the pleasure of looking at them with both fans and the curious : click here to download the PDF.

 


(Les portes de la vie, Algérie, page 63)

 

The volume was beautifully and carefully produced. The paper is thick, adn the hardcover is leatherbound. The volume was made by Du Burin editions, who note that it was distributed by Martinsart editions, while the lithographs were made by Guillard. I do not know if the volume was ever distributed in Algeria.

 

 

 

 


(Les portes de la vie, Algérie, page 346)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Moufdi Zakaria - The Algerian Ilyad

I am over the moon to have found a PDF version of the original Algerian Ilyad by the great Algerian war poet Moufdi Zakaria. As it is the original version, it is in Arabic HERE (thanks to archive.org, a fantastic e-resource for old books, you should check it out).  You can access the book in other formats too HERE . The Algerian Iliad - إلياذة الجزائـر  -  l' Iliade algé rienne  is a 1,000 line poem retracing Algeria's history in great historical details.  Throughout, Cheikh Zakaria recounts all the names that have shapped the Algeria's history. He goes through all the regions' history and their greatest most emblematic figures. This poem is so valuable and beautiful.  It should be on the curriculum of any Arabic and history cursus in Algeria.  Perhaps it is and/or you know this poem? Who is Cheikh Moufdi Zakaria? Well, on 5th of July, three days from now, Algeria will celebrate 50 years of independence. A tremendous poem was composed during
Post a Comment
Read more

"Kan darbe yaadatani, isa gara fuula dura itti yaaddu" (Oromo proverb)

"By remembering the past, the future is remembered". These notes are taken from Mengesha Rikitu's research on "Oromo Folk Tales for a new generation" by (see also his "Oromo Proverbs" and "Oromo Grammar"). Some proverbs are folk tales are worth the detour: 1) Oromo Proverb – Harreen yeroo alaaktu malee, yeroo dhuudhuuftu hin'beektu   "The Donkey doesn't know that it is farting again and again when it is braying." (ie some people concentrating on their own verbosity are unaware of what is going on behind them) You can tell that dhuudhuuftu is the farting can't you, am betting on the sound that word makes. Oromifa is one of the five most widely spoken (Afroasiatic) languages in Africa. Its importance lies in the numbers of its speakers and in its geographical extent. The 'official' numbers point to 30 million Oromo speakers (but there has not been to this day a complete or reliable census). The majority
1 comment
Read more

List: Moroccan Literature in English (and) Translation

Moroccan Literature in English (and) Translation Many readers and bookshops organise their book piles, shelves and readings by country, loosely defined as the author’s country of origin, or of where the story takes place. It’s an approach to fiction I always found odd and enjoyable. There is a special kind of enjoyment to be had by sticking to the fiction of a place and concentrating on it for a while. The pleasure I derive from this may simply be due to my myopia, and the habit it brings of frowning at a single point until a clear picture emerges, but as others engage in the same, and comforted by a crowd, it’s a habit I pursue and which is now taking me to Morocco. This journey, I make accompanied by a list of Moroccan literature in English, that is, translated fiction or literature written originally in English. It is shared below for the curious and fellow addicts. I could say that my tendency to focus on a country is how the construction of the list began, but that w
3 comments
Read more