Albert Memmi
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| - | '''Postcolonialism''' or '''postcolonial studies''' is the academic study of the cultural legacy of [[colonialism]] and [[imperialism]], focusing on the human consequences of the control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. | + | '''Albert Memmi''' (December 15, 1920 – 22 May 2020) was a [[French writer]] and essayist of Tunisian-Jewish origins. |
| - | The name ''postcolonialism'' is modeled on [[postmodernism]], with which it shares certain concepts and methods, and may be thought of as a reaction to or departure from colonialism in the same way postmodernism is a reaction to [[modernism]]. The ambiguous term ''colonialism'' may refer either to a system of government or to an [[ideology]] or [[world view]] underlying that system—in general postcolonialism represents an ideological response to colonialist thought, rather than simply describing [[Decolonization|a system that comes after colonialism]]. The term ''postcolonial studies'' may be preferred for this reason. | + | == Biography == |
| + | Memmi was born in [[Tunis]], [[French protectorate of Tunisia|French Tunisia]] in December 1920, to a [[Tunisian Jewish]] [[Berber]] mother, Maïra (or Marguerite) Sarfati, and a Tunisian-[[Italian Jewish]] father, Fradji (or Fraji, or François) Memmi, and grew up speaking French and [[Judeo-Tunisian Arabic|Tunisian-Judeo-Arabic]]. During the Nazi occupation of Tunisia, Memmi was imprisoned in a forced labor camp from which he later escaped. | ||
| - | Postcolonialism encompasses a wide variety of approaches, and theoreticians may not always agree on a common set of definitions. On a simple level, it may seek through [[Anthropology|anthropological]] study to build a better understanding of colonial life from the point of view of the colonized people, based on the assumption that the colonial rulers are [[Unreliable narrator|unreliable narrators]]. | + | Memmi was educated in French primary schools, and continued on to the Carnot high school in [[Tunis]], the [[University of Algiers]] where he studied [[philosophy]], and finally the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]] in [[Paris]]. Albert Memmi found himself at the crossroads of three cultures, and based his work on the difficulty of finding a balance between the East and the West. |
| - | On a deeper level, postcolonialism examines the [[Power (social and political)|social and political power]] relationships that sustain colonialism and [[neocolonialism]], including the social, political and cultural [[Narrative|narratives]] surrounding the colonizer and the colonized. This approach may overlap with [[contemporary history]] and [[critical theory]], and may also draw examples from [[history]], [[political science]], [[philosophy]], [[sociology]], [[anthropology]], and [[human geography]]. | + | Parallel with his literary work, he pursued a career as a teacher, first as a teacher at the Carnot high school in Tunis (1953) and later in France (where he remained after Tunisian independence) at the [[École pratique des hautes études]], at the [[HEC Paris|École des hautes études commerciales]] in Paris and at the [[University of Nanterre]] (1970). |
| - | Sub-disciplines of postcolonial studies examine the effects of colonial rule on the practice of [[Postcolonial feminism|feminism]], [[Postcolonial anarchism|anarchism]], [[postcolonial literature|literature]] and [[Postcolonial theology|Christian thought]]. | + | Although he supported the independence movement in Tunisia, he was not able to find a place in the new Muslim state both because of his French education and his Jewish faith, and following independence he "was asked to leave" the new state. |
| - | ==Literature of postcolonialism== | + | |
| - | ;Foundation works | + | |
| - | * ''[[Le Procès de la Colonisation française|Le Procès de la colonization française]]'' (French Colonization on Trial) (1924), by [[Nguyen Ai Quoc]] | + | |
| - | * ''[[Discourse on Colonialism]]'' (1950), by [[Aimé Césaire]] | + | |
| - | * ''[[Black Skin, White Masks]]'' (1952), by [[Frantz Fanon]] | + | |
| - | * ''[[The Wretched of the Earth]]'' (1961), by Frantz Fanon | + | |
| - | * ''[[The Colonizer and the Colonized]]'' (1965), by [[Albert Memmi]] | + | |
| - | * ''[[Consciencism]]'' (1970), by [[Kwame Nkrumah]] | + | |
| - | * ''[[Orientalism (book)|Orientalism]]'' (1978), by [[Edward Said]] | + | |
| - | * ''[[Can the Subaltern Speak?]]'' (1988), by [[Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak]] | + | |
| - | ==Postcolonial works of fiction== | + | He died in May 2020 at the age of 99. |
| - | ;Contemporary Authors of Postcolonial Fiction | + | |
| - | * [[Ben Okri]] | + | |
| - | * [[Arundhati Roy]] | + | |
| - | * [[Salman Rushdie]] | + | |
| - | ==See also== | + | ==Writings== |
| - | * ''[[Burn!]]'' (1969), directed by Gillo Pontecorvo | + | Memmi's well-regarded first novel, ''La statue de sel'' (translated as ''The Pillar of Salt''), was published in 1953 with a preface by [[Albert Camus]] and was awarded the [[Fénéon Prize]] in 1954. His other novels include ''Agar'' (translated as ''Strangers''), ''Le Scorpion'' (''The Scorpion''), and ''Le Desert'' (''The Desert''). |
| - | * [[Cultural cringe]] | + | |
| - | * [[Critical theory]] | + | His best-known non-fiction work is ''[[The Colonizer and the Colonized]]'', about the interdependent relationship of the two groups. It was published in 1957, a time when many national liberation movements were active. [[Jean-Paul Sartre]] wrote the preface. The work is often read in conjunction with [[Frantz Fanon]]'s ''Les damnés de la Terre'' (''[[The Wretched of the Earth]]'') and ''Peau noire, masques blancs'' (''[[Black Skin, White Masks]]'') and [[Aimé Césaire]]'s ''[[Discourse on Colonialism]]''. In October 2006, Memmi's follow-up to this work, entitled ''Decolonization and the Decolonized'', was published. In this book, Memmi suggests that in the wake of global decolonization, the suffering of former colonies cannot be attributed to the former colonizers, but to the corrupt leaders and governments that control these states. |
| - | * [[Cross-culturalism]] | + | |
| - | * ''[[The Dogs of War (film)|The Dogs of War]]'' (1980), directed by John Irvin | + | Memmi's related sociological works include ''Dominated Man'', ''Dependence'', and ''Racism''. |
| - | * [[Ethnology]] | + | |
| - | * ''[[An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"]]'' (1975), by [[Chinua Achebe]] | + | Sean P. Hier, in a review of Memmi's ''Racism'', calls it "well-written and autobiographically informed." He writes that Memmi's main claim is that racism is a "'lived experience' arising within human situations which only secondarily become 'social experiences.' According to Hier, Memmi writes that racism is "endemic to collective human existence." |
| - | * [[Inversion in postcolonial theory]] | + | |
| - | * [[Linguistic imperialism]] | + | Memmi wrote extensively on [[Jew|Jewish identity]], including ''Portrait of a Jew'', ''Liberation of the Jew'' and ''Jews and Arabs''. |
| - | * [[Nation-building]] | + | |
| - | * [[Postcolonial anarchism]] | + | He was also known for the ''Anthology of Maghrebian literature'' (written in collaboration) published in 1965 (vol. 1) and 1969 (vol. 2). |
| - | * [[Postcolonial feminism]] | + | |
| - | * [[Postcolonial literature]] | + | Reviewing Memmi's fiction, scholar Judith Roumani asserts that the Tunisian writer's work "reveals the same philosophical evolution over time from his original viewpoints to less radical but perhaps more realistic positions." She concludes that "his latest fiction is certainly more innovative and different than his earlier work." |
| - | * [[Postcolonial theology]] | + | |
| - | * [[Post-Communism]] | + | In 1995, Memmi said of his own work: "All of my work has been in sum an inventory of my attachments; all of my work has been, it should be understood, a constant revolt against my attachments; all of my work, for certain, has been an attempt at...reconciliation between the different parts of myself." |
| - | * [[Subaltern (postcolonialism)|Subaltern]] | + | |
| + | |||
| + | == Bibliography == | ||
| + | |||
| + | === French === | ||
| + | * ''À contre-courants''. Paris: Nouvel Objet, c1993. {{ISBN|2-84085-002-8}} | ||
| + | * ''Ah, quel bonheurécédé de L'exercice du bonheur''. Paris: [[Arléa]]: Diffusion Seuil, c1995. {{ISBN|2-86959-250-7}} | ||
| + | * ''Albert Memmi : un entretien avec Robert Davies suivi de Itinéraire de l'expérience vécue à la théorie de la domination''. Montréal: Éditions L'Étincelle; distributeur, Réédition Québec, c1975. | ||
| + | * ''Bonheurs: 52 semaines''. Paris: Arléa, c1992. {{ISBN|2-86959-142-X}} | ||
| + | * ''Le buveur et l'amoureux: le prix de la dépendance''. Paris: Arléa : Diffusion Seuil, c.1998. {{ISBN|2-86959-391-0}} | ||
| + | * ''Ce que je crois''. Paris: B. Grasset, c1985. {{ISBN|2-246-31171-3}} | ||
| + | * ''La dépendance: esquisse pour un portrait du dépendant''. Paris: Gallimard, c.1979. | ||
| + | * ''Le désert: ou, La vie et les aventures de Jubair Ouali El-Mammi''. Paris: Gallimard, c1977. | ||
| + | * ''Dictionnaire critique à l'usage des incrédules''. Paris: Kiron/Editions du Félin, c.2002. {{ISBN|2-86645-430-8}} | ||
| + | * ''L'écriture colorée, ou, Je vous aime en rouge: essai sur une dimension nouvelle de l'écriture, la couleur''. Paris: Périple : Distribution Distique, c1986. {{ISBN|2-904549-03-X}} | ||
| + | * ''L'Homme dominé''. Paris: Gallimard, 1968. | ||
| + | * ''L'Homme dominé; le Noir, le colonisé, le prolétaire, le Juif, la femme, le domestique, le racisme''. Nouvelle éd. Paris: Payot, 1973. {{ISBN|2-228-32230-X}} | ||
| + | * ''L'individu face à ses dépendances''. Paris: Vuibert, c2005. {{ISBN|2-7117-6181-9}} | ||
| + | * ''Le juif et l'autre''. Etrepilly: C. de Bartillat, c1995. {{ISBN|2-84100-025-7}} | ||
| + | * ''Juifs et Arabes''. Paris: Gallimard, 1974. | ||
| + | * ''Le nomade immobile : récit''. Paris: Arléa, c2000. {{ISBN|2-86959-521-2}} | ||
| + | * ''Le personnage de Jeha dans la littérature orale des Arabes et des Juifs''. Jerusalem: Institute of Asian and African Studies, [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem]] (1974?) | ||
| + | * ''Le pharaon : roman''. Paris: Julliard, c1988. {{ISBN|2-260-00535-7}} | ||
| + | * ''Portrait du colonisé, précédé du portrait du colonisateur'' ... Preface by Jean-Paul Sartre. Paris: Payot, 1973. | ||
| + | * ''Portrait du colonisé, précédé du portrait du colonisateur''; preface by Jean-Paul Sartre. Suivi de Les Canadiens francais sont-ils des colonisés? Ed. rev. et corr. par l'auteur. Montréal: L'Etincelle, 1972. {{ISBN|0-88515-018-X}} | ||
| + | * ''Portrait du colonisé, précédé de portrait du colonisateur: et d'une préface de Jean-Paul Sartre''. Paris: Gallimard, c1985. {{ISBN|2-07-070550-1}} | ||
| + | * ''Portrait du décolonisé arabo-musulman et de quelques autres''. Paris: Gallimard, c2004. {{ISBN|2-07-077110-5}} | ||
| + | * ''Portrait du décolonisé arabo-musulman et de quelques autres''. Ed. corr. et augm. d'une postface. Paris: Gallimard, c2004. {{ISBN|2-07-077377-9}} | ||
| + | * ''Portrait d'un Juif''. Paris: Gallimard, 1962–66. | ||
| + | * ''Le racisme : description, définition, traitement''. Paris: Gallimard, c1982. {{ISBN|2-07-035461-X}} | ||
| + | * ''Le Scorpion, ou, La confession imaginaire''. Paris: Gallimard, 1969. | ||
| + | * ''La statue de sel'', roman. Paris: Correa [1953]. | ||
| + | * ''La statue de sel''. Préf. d'Albert Camus. Éd. revue et corr. Paris: Gallimard, 1966. | ||
| + | * ''Térésa et autres femmes: récits''. Paris: Félin, c2004. {{ISBN|2-86645-568-1}} | ||
| + | * ''La terre intérieure: entretiens avec Victor Malka''. Paris: Gallimard, c1976. | ||
| + | |||
| + | === English === | ||
| + | * ''[[The Colonizer and the Colonized]]''. Introduction by Jean-Paul Sartre; afterword by Susan Gilson Miller; translated by Howard Greenfeld. Expanded ed. Boston: Beacon Press, c1991. {{ISBN|0-8070-0301-8}} | ||
| + | ** eBook version available. Plunkett Lake Press, 2013. {{ASIN|B00BRYDM3A}} | ||
| + | * ''Decolonization and the Decolonized''. Translated by Robert Bononno. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, c2006. {{ISBN|0-8166-4734-8}} | ||
| + | * ''Dependence: A Sketch for a Portrait''. New York: Orion Press [1968]. | ||
| + | * ''Jews and Arabs''. Translated from the French by Eleanor Levieux. Chicago: J. P. O'Hara, c1975. {{ISBN|0-87955-327-8}} {{ISBN|0879553286}} | ||
| + | * ''The Liberation of the Jew''. Translated from the French by Judy Hyun. New York: Orion Press [1966]. | ||
| + | ** eBook version available. Plunkett Lake Press, 2013. {{ASIN|B00B8XY5E0}} | ||
| + | * ''The Pillar of Salt''. Translated by Edouard Roditi. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992. {{ISBN|0-8070-8327-5}} | ||
| + | * ''The Pillar of Salt''. Chicago: J. P. O'Hara, [1975] c1955. {{ISBN|0-87955-907-1}} | ||
| + | ** eBook version available. Plunkett Lake Press, 2013. {{ASIN|B00D50BA7E}} | ||
| + | * ''Portrait of a Jew''. Translated from the French by Elisabeth Abbott. New York: Orion Press [1962] | ||
| + | ** eBook version available. Plunkett Lake Press, 2013. {{ASIN|B00B8XY1JO}} | ||
| + | * ''Racism''. Translated and with an introduction by Steve Martinot. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, c2000. {{ISBN|0-8166-3164-6}} | ||
| + | * ''The Scorpion, or, The Imaginary Confession''. Translated from the French by Eleanor Levieux. New York: Grossman, 1971. 0670622710 | ||
| + | * ''Strangers''. Translated from the French by Brian Rhys. New York: Orion Press [1960] | ||
| + | |||
| + | === Hebrew === | ||
| + | * ''[[Yehudim Ve-Arvim]]'', translated by [[Aharon Amir]], [[Sifriyat Hapo'alim]], [1975] | ||
| + | * ''Neziv Hamelach'', translated by Yosef Luz, Sifria La'am- Am Oved, [1960] | ||
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Albert Memmi (December 15, 1920 – 22 May 2020) was a French writer and essayist of Tunisian-Jewish origins.
Contents |
[edit]
Biography
Memmi was born in Tunis, French Tunisia in December 1920, to a Tunisian Jewish Berber mother, Maïra (or Marguerite) Sarfati, and a Tunisian-Italian Jewish father, Fradji (or Fraji, or François) Memmi, and grew up speaking French and Tunisian-Judeo-Arabic. During the Nazi occupation of Tunisia, Memmi was imprisoned in a forced labor camp from which he later escaped.
Memmi was educated in French primary schools, and continued on to the Carnot high school in Tunis, the University of Algiers where he studied philosophy, and finally the Sorbonne in Paris. Albert Memmi found himself at the crossroads of three cultures, and based his work on the difficulty of finding a balance between the East and the West.
Parallel with his literary work, he pursued a career as a teacher, first as a teacher at the Carnot high school in Tunis (1953) and later in France (where he remained after Tunisian independence) at the École pratique des hautes études, at the École des hautes études commerciales in Paris and at the University of Nanterre (1970).
Although he supported the independence movement in Tunisia, he was not able to find a place in the new Muslim state both because of his French education and his Jewish faith, and following independence he "was asked to leave" the new state.
He died in May 2020 at the age of 99.
[edit]
Writings
Memmi's well-regarded first novel, La statue de sel (translated as The Pillar of Salt), was published in 1953 with a preface by Albert Camus and was awarded the Fénéon Prize in 1954. His other novels include Agar (translated as Strangers), Le Scorpion (The Scorpion), and Le Desert (The Desert).
His best-known non-fiction work is The Colonizer and the Colonized, about the interdependent relationship of the two groups. It was published in 1957, a time when many national liberation movements were active. Jean-Paul Sartre wrote the preface. The work is often read in conjunction with Frantz Fanon's Les damnés de la Terre (The Wretched of the Earth) and Peau noire, masques blancs (Black Skin, White Masks) and Aimé Césaire's Discourse on Colonialism. In October 2006, Memmi's follow-up to this work, entitled Decolonization and the Decolonized, was published. In this book, Memmi suggests that in the wake of global decolonization, the suffering of former colonies cannot be attributed to the former colonizers, but to the corrupt leaders and governments that control these states.
Memmi's related sociological works include Dominated Man, Dependence, and Racism.
Sean P. Hier, in a review of Memmi's Racism, calls it "well-written and autobiographically informed." He writes that Memmi's main claim is that racism is a "'lived experience' arising within human situations which only secondarily become 'social experiences.' According to Hier, Memmi writes that racism is "endemic to collective human existence."
Memmi wrote extensively on Jewish identity, including Portrait of a Jew, Liberation of the Jew and Jews and Arabs.
He was also known for the Anthology of Maghrebian literature (written in collaboration) published in 1965 (vol. 1) and 1969 (vol. 2).
Reviewing Memmi's fiction, scholar Judith Roumani asserts that the Tunisian writer's work "reveals the same philosophical evolution over time from his original viewpoints to less radical but perhaps more realistic positions." She concludes that "his latest fiction is certainly more innovative and different than his earlier work."
In 1995, Memmi said of his own work: "All of my work has been in sum an inventory of my attachments; all of my work has been, it should be understood, a constant revolt against my attachments; all of my work, for certain, has been an attempt at...reconciliation between the different parts of myself."
[edit]
Bibliography
[edit]
French
- À contre-courants. Paris: Nouvel Objet, c1993. Template:ISBN
- Ah, quel bonheurécédé de L'exercice du bonheur. Paris: Arléa: Diffusion Seuil, c1995. Template:ISBN
- Albert Memmi : un entretien avec Robert Davies suivi de Itinéraire de l'expérience vécue à la théorie de la domination. Montréal: Éditions L'Étincelle; distributeur, Réédition Québec, c1975.
- Bonheurs: 52 semaines. Paris: Arléa, c1992. Template:ISBN
- Le buveur et l'amoureux: le prix de la dépendance. Paris: Arléa : Diffusion Seuil, c.1998. Template:ISBN
- Ce que je crois. Paris: B. Grasset, c1985. Template:ISBN
- La dépendance: esquisse pour un portrait du dépendant. Paris: Gallimard, c.1979.
- Le désert: ou, La vie et les aventures de Jubair Ouali El-Mammi. Paris: Gallimard, c1977.
- Dictionnaire critique à l'usage des incrédules. Paris: Kiron/Editions du Félin, c.2002. Template:ISBN
- L'écriture colorée, ou, Je vous aime en rouge: essai sur une dimension nouvelle de l'écriture, la couleur. Paris: Périple : Distribution Distique, c1986. Template:ISBN
- L'Homme dominé. Paris: Gallimard, 1968.
- L'Homme dominé; le Noir, le colonisé, le prolétaire, le Juif, la femme, le domestique, le racisme. Nouvelle éd. Paris: Payot, 1973. Template:ISBN
- L'individu face à ses dépendances. Paris: Vuibert, c2005. Template:ISBN
- Le juif et l'autre. Etrepilly: C. de Bartillat, c1995. Template:ISBN
- Juifs et Arabes. Paris: Gallimard, 1974.
- Le nomade immobile : récit. Paris: Arléa, c2000. Template:ISBN
- Le personnage de Jeha dans la littérature orale des Arabes et des Juifs. Jerusalem: Institute of Asian and African Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1974?)
- Le pharaon : roman. Paris: Julliard, c1988. Template:ISBN
- Portrait du colonisé, précédé du portrait du colonisateur ... Preface by Jean-Paul Sartre. Paris: Payot, 1973.
- Portrait du colonisé, précédé du portrait du colonisateur; preface by Jean-Paul Sartre. Suivi de Les Canadiens francais sont-ils des colonisés? Ed. rev. et corr. par l'auteur. Montréal: L'Etincelle, 1972. Template:ISBN
- Portrait du colonisé, précédé de portrait du colonisateur: et d'une préface de Jean-Paul Sartre. Paris: Gallimard, c1985. Template:ISBN
- Portrait du décolonisé arabo-musulman et de quelques autres. Paris: Gallimard, c2004. Template:ISBN
- Portrait du décolonisé arabo-musulman et de quelques autres. Ed. corr. et augm. d'une postface. Paris: Gallimard, c2004. Template:ISBN
- Portrait d'un Juif. Paris: Gallimard, 1962–66.
- Le racisme : description, définition, traitement. Paris: Gallimard, c1982. Template:ISBN
- Le Scorpion, ou, La confession imaginaire. Paris: Gallimard, 1969.
- La statue de sel, roman. Paris: Correa [1953].
- La statue de sel. Préf. d'Albert Camus. Éd. revue et corr. Paris: Gallimard, 1966.
- Térésa et autres femmes: récits. Paris: Félin, c2004. Template:ISBN
- La terre intérieure: entretiens avec Victor Malka. Paris: Gallimard, c1976.
[edit]
English
- The Colonizer and the Colonized. Introduction by Jean-Paul Sartre; afterword by Susan Gilson Miller; translated by Howard Greenfeld. Expanded ed. Boston: Beacon Press, c1991. Template:ISBN
- eBook version available. Plunkett Lake Press, 2013. Template:ASIN
- Decolonization and the Decolonized. Translated by Robert Bononno. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, c2006. Template:ISBN
- Dependence: A Sketch for a Portrait. New York: Orion Press [1968].
- Jews and Arabs. Translated from the French by Eleanor Levieux. Chicago: J. P. O'Hara, c1975. Template:ISBN Template:ISBN
- The Liberation of the Jew. Translated from the French by Judy Hyun. New York: Orion Press [1966].
- eBook version available. Plunkett Lake Press, 2013. Template:ASIN
- The Pillar of Salt. Translated by Edouard Roditi. Boston: Beacon Press, 1992. Template:ISBN
- The Pillar of Salt. Chicago: J. P. O'Hara, [1975] c1955. Template:ISBN
- eBook version available. Plunkett Lake Press, 2013. Template:ASIN
- Portrait of a Jew. Translated from the French by Elisabeth Abbott. New York: Orion Press [1962]
- eBook version available. Plunkett Lake Press, 2013. Template:ASIN
- Racism. Translated and with an introduction by Steve Martinot. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, c2000. Template:ISBN
- The Scorpion, or, The Imaginary Confession. Translated from the French by Eleanor Levieux. New York: Grossman, 1971. 0670622710
- Strangers. Translated from the French by Brian Rhys. New York: Orion Press [1960]
[edit]
Hebrew
- Yehudim Ve-Arvim, translated by Aharon Amir, Sifriyat Hapo'alim, [1975]
- Neziv Hamelach, translated by Yosef Luz, Sifria La'am- Am Oved, [1960]
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Albert Memmi" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
