Jean Pélégri
Encyclopedia
Jean Pélégri was a writer and professor of literature. Of French descent, he was born in Algeria, but left as part of the diaspora of French colonists referred to as pied-noirs following the Algerian War.
He was friends with many Algerian writers (such as Mohammed Dib
and Kateb Yacine
) and, like Jean Sénac
, Pélégri considered himself to be one of them; he always saw himself as an "Algerian at heart". He supplemented his novels' prefaces with artwork from his painter friends Baya, Abdallah Benanteur, Mohammed Khadda
and Jean de Maisonseul. Pélégri also assisted on the film adaptation of his novel Les Oliviers de la justice as screenwriter, dialogue writer and actor. The movie won the Cinema and Television Writers Award at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival.
in any case, remains unknown in France. Why? Because he tried so hard to mark his terrority as an Algerian that he created a different kind of French language just for his own use. And for that, French readers rejected him."
"No French writer from Algeria, the 'pied-noir
s' as we ignorantly call them, with the possible exception of the poet Jean Sénac
, accepted Algeria completely for what she is and for what she has always been the way that he did. No one so naturally felt like a son of Algeria in all her forms: Arab, Berber
, Spanish, French ... as Jean Pélégri did, not Gabriel Audisio, not Emmanuel Roblès
, not Jules Roy
, nor Albert Camus. From his novel Oliviers de la justice to Maboul, Pélégri sings a veritable 'cante jondo
' of rural Algeria in all of its baroque complexity. With Kateb Yacine's Nedjma, Le Maboul is the only Faulknerian
novel of our literature."
He was friends with many Algerian writers (such as Mohammed Dib
Mohammed Dib
Mohammed Dib was an Algerian author. He wrote over 30 novels, as well as numerous short stories, poems, and children's literature in the French language. He is probably Algeria's most prolific and well-known writer...
and Kateb Yacine
Kateb Yacine
Kateb Yacine was an Algerian writer notable for his novels and plays, both in French and Algerian Arabic dialect, and his advocacy of the Algerian Berber cause.-Biography:...
) and, like Jean Sénac
Jean Sénac
Jean Sénac Born of an unknown father in Béni Saf in the Oran region of Algeria, the "poet who signed with a sun", was murdered in Algiers on August 30, 1973. His murder remains unsolved. Besides his poems and writings, he was renowned for a long-running relationship and correspondences with...
, Pélégri considered himself to be one of them; he always saw himself as an "Algerian at heart". He supplemented his novels' prefaces with artwork from his painter friends Baya, Abdallah Benanteur, Mohammed Khadda
Mohammed Khadda
Mohammed Khadda was an Algerian painter and sculptor who is considered to be among the founders of contemporary Algerian painting. He debuted in 1960. His influences included Cubism and Arabic calligraphy. He tended toward the non-figurative or abstract...
and Jean de Maisonseul. Pélégri also assisted on the film adaptation of his novel Les Oliviers de la justice as screenwriter, dialogue writer and actor. The movie won the Cinema and Television Writers Award at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival.
Reviews
"Jean Pélégri, Algerian by birth and one of the great writers of our time, greater than Albert CamusAlbert Camus
Albert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...
in any case, remains unknown in France. Why? Because he tried so hard to mark his terrority as an Algerian that he created a different kind of French language just for his own use. And for that, French readers rejected him."
- Mohammed Dib, Simorgh, Albin Michel, Paris, 2003 [his last book].
"No French writer from Algeria, the 'pied-noir
Pied-noir
Pied-Noir , plural Pieds-Noirs, pronounced , is a term referring to French citizens of various origins who lived in French Algeria before independence....
s' as we ignorantly call them, with the possible exception of the poet Jean Sénac
Jean Sénac
Jean Sénac Born of an unknown father in Béni Saf in the Oran region of Algeria, the "poet who signed with a sun", was murdered in Algiers on August 30, 1973. His murder remains unsolved. Besides his poems and writings, he was renowned for a long-running relationship and correspondences with...
, accepted Algeria completely for what she is and for what she has always been the way that he did. No one so naturally felt like a son of Algeria in all her forms: Arab, Berber
Berber people
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
, Spanish, French ... as Jean Pélégri did, not Gabriel Audisio, not Emmanuel Roblès
Emmanuel Roblès
Emmanuel Roblès was an Algerian-French author. He was elected a member of the Académie Goncourt in 1973...
, not Jules Roy
Jules Roy
Jules Roy was a French writer. "Prolific and polemical" Roy, born an Algerian pied noir and sent to a Roman Catholic seminary, used his experiences as the French colony and during his service in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War to inspire a number of his words...
, nor Albert Camus. From his novel Oliviers de la justice to Maboul, Pélégri sings a veritable 'cante jondo
Cante jondo
Cante jondo is a vocal style in flamenco. An unspoiled form of Andalusian folk music, the name means deep song It is generally considered that the common traditional classification of flamenco music is divided into three groups of which the deepest, most serious forms are known as cante jondo...
' of rural Algeria in all of its baroque complexity. With Kateb Yacine's Nedjma, Le Maboul is the only Faulknerian
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
novel of our literature."
- Jean DanielJean DanielJean Daniel, is an Algerian-born French-Jewish journalist and author. He is the founder and executive editor of Le Nouvel Observateur weekly.Daniel is a Jewish humanist in the venerable tradition of the French Left...
, Pélégri l'Algérien, Le Nouvel ObservateurLe Nouvel ObservateurLe Nouvel Observateur is a weekly French newsmagazine. Based in Paris, it is the most prominent French general information magazine in terms of audience and circulation ....
, ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 2-8 octobre 2003.
Novels and Plays
- L'Embarquement du lundi, Gallimard, ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 1952. - Les Oliviers de la justice, Gallimard, ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 1959. Grand Prix catholique de littérature 1960 - Le Maboul, Gallimard, ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 1963. - L'Homme-caillou, Abdallah Benanteur, ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 1965. - Les Monuments du déluge, Christian Bourgois, ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 1967. - Slimane (pièce en quatre actes), Christian Bourgois, ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 1968. - L'Homme mangé par la ville (dramatique), France-Culture, 1970.
- Le Cheval dans la ville, Gallimard, ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 1972. - Le Maître du Tambour (pièce), Théâtre Jean VilarJean VilarJean Vilar was a French man of the theatre, who created in 1947 the Avignon theatre festival.After he gave up his literature studies, in 1932 he followed in Paris a course of philosophy of Alain and the theatre courses of Charles Dullin...
, SuresnesSuresnesSuresnes is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. The nearest communes are Neuilly-sur-Seine, Puteaux, Rueil-Malmaison, Saint-Cloud and Boulogne-Billancourt...
, 1974. - Ma mère, l'Algérie, Laphomic, AlgerAlgiers' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
, 1989; Actes Sud, 1990 (ISBN 286869554X). - Les Etés perdus, Le Seuil, ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 1999 (ISBN 2020367580).
About Jean Pélégri
- Jean Pélégri, dans Algérie Littérature/Action n° 29, Editions Marsa, ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, mars 1999. - Dominique Le Boucher, Jean Pélégri l'Algérien ou Le scribe du caillou, avec des textes inédits de Jean Pélégri, deux volumes, Algérie Littérature/Action n°37-38, Editions Marsa, ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, 2000 (ISBN 2913868118). - Dominique Le Boucher, (ISBN 2914467052).