Her doctorate dissertation was published in Paris in 1985, under the title Algerie: Femmes et ecriture (Algeria: Women and Writing), and introduced by Jacques Berque. Its author, Ahlam Mosteghanemi, received her BA in Arabic literature from the University of Algiers in 1973, and was awarded a doctorate in sociology from the Sorbonne in 1982. Ferial J Ghazoul examines the literary virtuosity of this Algerian writerÄhakirat Al-Jasad (Memory in the Flesh), published simultaneously in Algeria and Lebanon in 1993, and presently in its tenth printing, is the first novel written by an Algerian woman in Arabic. In addition to this, the interview pays particular attention to the issue of translation in Mosteghanemi's novels and to her attitudes towards her readership.The Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature, awarded annually by the American University in Cairo Press for the best recent novel in Arabic went in 1998 to the Algerian writer Ahlam Mosteghanemi for her novel Dhakirat Al-Jasad (Memory in the Flesh). The interview looks at some of the significant themes raised by Mosteghanemi in her novels. Even in the English translation there is a strong sense of the historical and geographical reality of Algeria, an ancient country repeatedly invaded by colonizing forces, and struggling again in the modern world to establish an independent identity. The interview pays particular attention to the rich symbolism of Mosteghanemi's novels. The interview seeks to deconstruct the widespread image of feminist literature as a genre that attempts to explore the female experience through an unnuanced binary focus on the opposition between the male and female within a patriarchal society. Mosteghanemi's decision to write in Arabic and the themes of her novels are directly informed by the Algerian war of independence and as such can be seen both as a statement of independence from the Eurocentric homogenization of language and discourse, and as a feminist political statement. The interview examines Ahlam Mosteghanemi's novels and the impact of colonization and post-colonization on Mosteghanemi, her writing, Algeria and the Algerian people. Her novels express a unique understanding of social and political events, and convey the impact of these events on individuals by combining love stories with political and social history, fused together in present time. Her work is therefore very significant in the context of Arab women's writing and feminism. Ahlam Mosteghanemi was the first Algerian woman writer to publish a novel in the Arabic language.
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