The Algerian Novel, chapter 1

Overview

In Larbi Ben M’Hidi street, in Algiers, Farouk Azzoug and his son own a nomad kiosk where they sell old postcards and reproduction of archival photographs. Many different images constitute this fund, going from the late 18th century until the 1980’s. There can be found original postcards, of genre scene or architecture, art deco commercials for the railways, and also photographic reproductions of important political figures from or coming to Algeria. This eclectic collection - good neighborly displayed under plastic - brings us into a colonial and postcolonial iconography. It appears to be classified randomly but it allows many associations, as a kind of Algerian Atlas Mnemosyne. Over the images of the kiosk and different locations in the city, we can hear the voices of inhabitants of Algiers, historians, writers, students, who explain their connection to these images and to the history of their country.