October 21, 2005

A Radical Confrontation With Literature

By JAMES D. LE SUEUR

Every now and again and perhaps unfairly, history endows a writer with such a compelling personal story and such amazing literary gifts that the combination places a special burden on him or her to act as posterity's conduit to a passing era. When canvassing the intellectual history of the 20th century, I think of many such people, but I believe that foremost among them is the Algerian writer Mouloud Feraoun.

Born a Muslim Berber in the mountainous region of Kabylia in 1913, during the