Novel · A way to begin
The Pillar of Salt
La Statue de sel
Albert Memmi · 1953
Synopsis
Alexandre Mordekhaï Benillouche, son of a poor saddler and an illiterate mother, grows up in a dead end near the hara, the Jewish quarter of Tunis. A brilliant pupil, he discovers in class a rationalism that makes him look at his family and his community with different eyes. He no longer feels at home anywhere, neither among his own people, nor among the French, nor in the Tunisia that is coming, and he endures insults and violence. Then the war reaches Tunis, with the Germans and the labour camp.
Context
The author's first novel, the book appeared in 1953 from Corrêa, with a preface by Albert Camus, and transposes his childhood and youth. The title comes from Lot's wife, turned into a pillar of salt for looking back at the city she was leaving. Edouard Roditi translated it into English as early as 1955. Gallimard issued a revised edition in 1966, reprinted several times since. Four years after the novel, its author published his essay on the colonised man.
Who it is for
A partly autobiographical coming-of-age narrative, written in limpid language; the successive affiliations in it are very clear.
Prizes and reception
Prefaced by Camus, translated into English two years after its publication, and reissued by Gallimard in 1972 and 1993.
Sources for this page 5
The pages consulted to check this page.