"Resistance" against oppression in Kateb Yacine’s "Nedjma" and Emmanuel Roblès’ "Les hauteurs de la ville"

Abstract

The riots of 8 May 1945 in Setif and Guelma were the spark igniting a tinderbox in Algeria. This is a momentous date, which marks a before and an after in the relations between the colonizers and the colonized, and initiates the decolonization process in a territory that Paris had considered, for more than a century, a mere prolongation of mainland France. Numerous writers and intellectuals from both sides denounced the injustices committed during a conflict that nobody dared to discuss. Kateb Yacine and Emmanuel Roblès are two of these writers. With different motivations, they both insisted on the importance to fight against the oppression suffered by the Algerian population, disenchanted and tired of living miserably.