Children of the New World: A Novel of the Algerian War

Assia Djebar

May 2009 · The Feminist Press at CUNY

About this ebook

A pioneering work of interconnected perspectives, Children of the New World is a novel of insurgency and resistance by one of the Arab world’s most distinguished woman writers.

“Assia Djebar's point of view is feminist and anti-colonial, but her novel is no propaganda piece." ― New York Times Book Review

Centering women in political resistance, Children of the New World follows a robust cast of women in a rural Algerian town who find themselves joined in solidarity as they empower one another to engage in the fight for independence. Narrating the resistance movement across a variety of perspectives—from traditional wives to liberated students to political organizers—Djebar powerfully depicts the circumstances that drive oppressed communities to violence while she movingly reveals the tragic costs of war.

Children of the New World was written following the author’s own involvement in the Algerian resistance to colonial French rule, making it both intensely personal and deeply resonant. First published in 1962, this timeless novel “embodies Djebar's refined literary sensibility, empathy for people caught in times of violent change, and penetrating insights into the complex and painful difficulties between men and women” (Booklist).

Ratings and reviews

I don't think I'll appreciate this novel if I read it, because I'm a man, not a woman. It just may be too hard to understand even with a strange mindset.

About the author

Assia Djebar was born Fatima-Zohra Imalayan in Cherchell, Algeria on June 30, 1936. She read history at the Sorbonne in Paris, and, after teaching at Tunis and Rabat universities, emigrated to France with her husband and children. Her first novel, La Soif (The Mischief), was published in 1957. She wrote more than 15 novels during her lifetime including Algerian White, So Vast the Prison, The Tongue's Blood Does Not Run Dry, and The Children of the New World. She was also a playwright and filmmaker. In 2005, she became the fifth woman to be elected to the Académie Française. She received numerous awards for her work including the International Prize of Palmi, the Peace Prize of the Frankfurt Book Fair, the International Critics' Prize at the Venice Biennale for the film La Nouba des Femmes du Mont Chenoua, and the International Literary Neustadt Prize. She died on February 7, 2015 at the age of 78. Zimra is Associate Professor of English at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.