Mohammed Dib

Mohammed Dib , 1920-2003, Algerian novelist and poet, b. Tlemcen. From 1959 on he lived most of his life in France. In a vigorous, forthright style, he wrote in French about life in his native land. His novel Dieu en barbarie [god in barbarity] (1970) takes place immediately after Algeria gained independence from France. Dib, an extremely prolific writer, is considered one of modern Algeria's most important French-language writers. Among his other works are such novels as La grande maison (1952), L'Incindie (1954), and La métier à tisser (1957), a trilogy that covers the years 1938-42, as well as La danse du roi (1960), Qui se souvient de la mer (1962, tr. Who Remembers the Sea, 1985), Le maître de chasse (1973), Les terrasses d'Orsol (1985), Neiges de marbre (1990), Nuit sauvage (1995, tr. The Savage Night, 2001), and L'arbre à dires (1998). His writings also include two volumes of short stories (1956, 1966); a play, Mille hourras pour une gueuse [a thousand cheers for a beggar] (1980); and several collections of poetry, including Ombre gardienne [guardian shade] (1961), Formulaires (1970), Omneros (1975, tr. 1978), and Ó vive (1987).

Bibliography: See studies by I. C. Tcheho (1980) and E. C. Vulor (2000).