Chroniques: Selected Columns, 2010-2016

(Hardback)

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This engaging collection of essays showcases the extraordinary passion, insight, and range of, Kamel Daoud, bestselling author of The Meursault Investigation. Kamel Daoud has been a journalist for more than twenty years, writing the most-read column in Algeria, in Le Quotidien d'Oran, while also collaborating on various online media and contributing to publications such as the New York Times. During the 2010-2016 period, he put his name to almost two thousand texts--first intended for the Algerian public, then read more and more throughout the world as his reputation grew. Whether he is criticizing political Islam or the decline of the Algerian regime, embracing the hope kindled by Arab revolutions or defending women's rights, Daoud does so in his own inimitable style- at once poetic and provocative, he captures his devoted followers with fresh, counterintuitive arguments about the nature of humanity, religion, and liberty.

Reviews

Daoud is a brilliant, indeed dazzling, thinker[Chroniquesis] sharp, smart, and searingly felt, demonstrating breathtaking understanding of both the world of letters and life experience. Daouds essays are literally death-defying, often painful, and always deeply thoughtful. Los Angeles Review of Books

Daoudoffers unsparing critiques of political Islam, Arab dictatorships, Western complicity, and social and cultural repressionA stunning, defiant, and impassioned collection. Kirkus Reviews(starred review)

Incisive, occasionally witty and always irreverent, Daouds pen spares no oneDaouds courage in confronting the Algerian state is particularly commendable. Times Literary Supplement

Shrewd and sharpThese thought-provoking writings will appeal to readers interested in geopolitical events in one of the most troubled regions of the world. Library Journal

Nothing of Kamel Daouds exquisite prose is lost in translation in this brilliant English edition of his collected essays. Daoud is our interpreter and critic of the Araband by extension, Islamicworld, and no one, from the Islamists to the dictators to every rogue in between, is immune from his pointed jabs. Hooman Majd, author ofThe Ayatollah Begs to Differ

Chroniquesoffers an astute and sobering critique of a region besieged by a fatalistic adherence to religious dogma and by tyrannical rule disguised as national stability. Kamel Daoud has the audacity to think differently, to confront Islamism and oppression, to reflect judiciously on a people and a region that he intimately understands, and to deconstruct the myth of an Arab identity. Daouds acumen is matched only by his linguistic prowess and his use of elegant prose to unpack delicate and contentious questions of our times. Safwan M. Masri, author ofTunisia: An Arab Anomaly

Praise forThe MeursaultInvestigation:

Stunningan intricately layered tale thatnudges us into a contemplation of Algerias history and current religious politics; colonialism and postcolonialism; and the ways in which language and perspective can radically alter a seemingly simple story and the social and philosophical shadows it casts backward and forward.Michiko Kakutani,New York Times

Mesmerizingan absorbing, independent story and a shrewd critique of a country trapped in historys time warp. Wall Street Journal

Rich and inventiveso convincing and so satisfying that we no longer think of the original story as the truth, but rather come to question it.New York Times Book Review

Remarkable[The Meursault Investigations] themes of voicelessness and vengeance feel utterly present-day. Vogue

A tour-de-force. The New Yorker

What makes Daouds book so good is that, steeped in independent thinking, it offers an illuminating, if controversial portrait of todays Algeria.Fresh Air,NPR

A biting, profound response to French colonialismDaouds prose is propulsive and charged. The pages glitter with memorable phrases.The Economist

Author Bio

Kamel Daoud is an Algerian journalist based in Oran, where he writes for the Quotidien d'Oran--the third largest French-language Algerian newspaper. He contributes a weekly column to Le Point, is a regular contributor to the op-ed pages of the New York Times, and his articles have appeared in Liberation, Le Monde, Courrier International, and are regularly reprinted around the world. A finalist for the Prix Goncourt, The Meursault Investigation (Other Press) won the Prix Fran ois Mauriac and the Prix des Cinq-Continents de la francophonie. Elisabeth Zerofsky's writing has appeared in The New Yorker, n+1, The New Republic, and Harper's. She is a graduate of Brown University and was a Fulbright fellow in Paris from 2008 to 2009.