L’esule algerino a Parigi nel romanzo Aṣābi‘ Lūlītā (Le dita di Lolita, 2012) di Wāsīnī al-A‘raǧ
(The Algerian exile in Paris in the novel Aṣābi‘ Lūlītā (Lolita’s Fingers, 2012) by Wāsīnī al-A‘raǧ)
in La rivista di Arablit, a. IV, n. 7-8, dicembre 2014, pp. 188-200.
The following essay will deal with the Algerian novelist Wāsīnī al-A‘raǧ, a writer in exile in Paris, through one of his last novels, Aṣābi‘ Lūlītā (Lolita’s Fingers), candidate for the 2013 International Prize of Arabic Fiction (IPAF). The first part of the essay presents the author’s biography, from his youth and studies in Algeria until his exile to Paris, constantly keeping an eye on parallel events of his country’s history. The second part will focus on Aṣābi‘ Lūlītā, at first describing the novel’s plot and two main characters, an Algerian writer exiled in Paris and the mysterious Lolita, then analyzing its central themes, its language and its genre which is between the historical-political novel and the thriller. Finally, there will be an introduction to the author’s core message to the reader: the need of an inclusive definition of the identity.
