The Year of Passages

by Réda Bensmaïa

This novel is a tale of exile and passage. The narrator is a North African, now living in the United States because he has been condemned by religious fanatics after the publication of his novel entitled Dead Letters. He is disillusioned with literature, and his life events are beyond his control. He can only write, and he fabricates material from trends imposed on him by the American academy. Reda Bensmaia's knowledge of the history, the literature, and the philosophical ideas of our times underlies the novel. He offers, among other things, an important reflection on U.S. political culture, touching on issues ranging from foreign policy in the Middle East to the media's role in alternately demonizing Muslim cultures and fostering ignorance of them.

Genres: Poetry

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Réda Bensmaïa is Professor Emeritus, Formerly University Professor of French and Francophone literature in the French Studies Department and in the Department of Comparative Literature at Brown University. He has published extensively on French and Francophone literature of the Twentieth century as well as on film theory and contemporary philosophy.

He is the author of The Barthes Effect, Introduction to the reflective Text (Minnesota, THL, 1987); The Years of Passages (Minnesota, Theory out of Bounds, 1995); Alger ou la Maladie de la Mémoire (L'Harmattan, 1997) and Experimental Nations or The Invention of the Maghreb (Princeton University Press, Spring 2003). He is also the Editor of Gilles Deleuze (Lendemains, Berlin, 1989) and Recommending Deleuze (Discourse, 1998)