Cover of Fantasia

Fantasia

In this stunning novel, Assia Djebar intertwines the history of her native Algeria with episodes from the life of a young girl in a story stretching from the French conquest in 1830 to the War of Liberation of the 1950s. The girl, growing up in the old Roman coastal town of Cherchel, sees her life in contrast to that of a neighboring French family, and yearns for more than law and tradition allow her to experience. Headstrong and passionate, she escapes from the cloistered life of her family to join her brother in the maquis' fight against French domination. Djebar's exceptional descriptive powers bring to life the experiences of girls and women caught up in the dual struggle for independence - both their own and Algeria's.

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 227 pages

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Liked Fantasia? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Fantasia. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. The Lovers of Algeria Shares Algeria, fiction, Africa
  2. In the Name of God Shares Algeria, fiction, algerian literature
  3. The Question Shares Algeria, Africa, memoir
  4. Donkey Heart Monkey Mind Shares Algeria, memoir, nonfiction

“People who read Fantasia tend to reach for these next.”

  1. The Sacred Night
  2. Maps
  3. Crossing the Mangrove
  4. The Radiance of the King

“If you want more of the same (historical fiction about women), start with these.”

  1. The Algerine Captive, or The Life and Adventures of Doctor Updike Underhill
  2. The Meursault Investigation
  3. The First Man
  4. Wolf Dreams

“If it was the Algeria that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. The German Mujahid
  2. Morituri
  3. My Battle of Algiers: A Memoir
  4. I, Nadia: Wife of a Terrorist

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Dedicated to God: An Oral History of Cloistered Nuns
  2. Superior Women
  3. Cargo
  4. Resistance, Rebellion and Death: Essays