The Poor Man's Son (CARAF Books: Caribbean and African Literature Translated from French)

About this book

Like the autobiographical hero of this his classic first novel Mouloud Feraoun grew up in the rugged Kabyle region of French-controlled Algeria where the prospects for most Muslim Berber men were limited to shepherding or emigrating to France for factory work. While Feraoun escaped such a fate by excelling in the colonial school systemas a student and later as a teacher at the cole Normalehe remained firmly rooted in Kabyle culture. This dual perspective only enhanced his view often brutally of the ravages on his country by poverty colonial rule and a world war that descended on Algeria like a great storm. This embattled society and Feraouns unique position within it became the raw material for The Poor Mans Son. Originally published in 1950 the novel was reissued in 1954 when its style was "fixed" to remove colloquial mannerisms and tenses. Perhaps more importantly an entire section was omitted significantly altering the conclusion and indeed the whole thrust of the book. Nonetheless it is this version by which the book is known to this day in French. Based on the original 1950 text this new translation is notable not only for bringing Feraouns classic to an English-speaking audience but also for presenting the book in its entirety for the first time in fifty years. A direct response to Albert Camus call for Algerians to tell the world their story The Poor Mans Son remains after half a century the definitive map of the Kabyle soul.