Abdelkader Alloula

Abdelkader Alloula (Arabic: ‎‎عبد القادر علولة) (born 1939 in Ghazaouet, Algeria – died March 14, 1994 in Oran, Algeria) was an Algerian playwright. He was assassinated by Islamists.^[1]

Biography

Alloula was born in Ghazaouet in western Algeria. He joined the Algerian National Theatre upon its creation in 1963 following independence. His works, typically in vernacular Algerian Arabic, included:

• El-Aâleg (1969) - "The Leech", a satire of corrupt administration
• El-Khobza (1970) - "Bread"
• Homq Salim (1972) - "Salim's Madness", a monologue based on Nikolai Gogol's Diary of a Madman
• Hammam Rabbi (1975) - "The Lord's Bath", based on Gogol's The Government Inspector
• The Generous Trilogy:
  • El-Agoual (1980) - "The Sayings"
  • El-Adjouad (1984) - "The Generous"
  • El-Litham (1989) - "The Veil"

He was working on an Arabic version of Tartuffe when he was shot by two members of FIDA (Islamic Front for Armed Jihad) during Ramadan on March 10, 1994, as he left his house in Oran. He was transferred to a hospital in Paris, where he died four days later.^[2] His widow, Radja Alloula, and friends set up the Abdelkader Alloula Foundation in his memory.

His brother, Malek Alloula, is also a noted Algerian writer.

References

1. "Abdelkader Alloula" (in French). algeriades.com. Archived from the original on February 24, 2012.
2. Abu-Haidar, Farida (April 15, 1994). "Obituary: Abdelkader Alloula". The Independent.