So Vast the Prison

by Assia Djebar

Book Overview

So Vast the Prison is the double-threaded story of a modern, educated Algerian woman existing in a man's society, and, not surprisingly, living a life of contradictions. Djebar, too, tackles cross-cultural issues just by writing in French of an Arab society (the actual act of writing contrasting with the strong oral traditions of the indigenous culture), as a woman who has seen revolution in a now post-colonial country, and as an Algerian living in...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1583220674
• ISBN13: 9781583220672
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: Seven Stories Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

So Vast the Prison

A somewhat difficult book to read, unless one is familiar with the French post-modernist style (Derrida, Cixous) however well worth the effort. This is an ambitious book that explores the power-relationships between men and women, husbands and wives, colonists and colonized, French and Arabs, Arabs and Berbers as well as the power implicit within spoken and written language, using a poetic, somewhat cinematic style (Djebar is also a film-maker)that meanders between what is apparently a semi-autobiographical narrative and (somewhat)straightforward historical writing, focusing on both modern and ancient Algeria.This is not a book that one can skim through and still understand: however the end result is insightful and haunting and leaves one wishing for more.