One Community, One Book: 2001 Selection
The Last Summer of Reason
by Tahar Djaout
Djaout’s short novel, only 145 pages long, is about the haunting absurdities of a religiously fanatical state and its brutal assault upon a small bookstore owner, Boualem Yekker. On May 26, 1993, Djaout, a poet and journalist as well as a novelist, was himself attacked by fanatical assassins as he was leaving his home in Bainem, Algeria. The unfinished manuscript for “The Last Summer of Reason” was found among his papers after his premature death.
The book has been well received by critics. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune called it “powerful, elegant, and grimly topical,” and the Detroit Free Press wrote, “One naturally thinks of Camus and Kafka in the desolation and claustrophobia Djaout captures.” Ruminator Books, based in St. Paul, Minnesota, acquired the book for publication in the United States. The French government paid for the English translation and hosted publisher Pearl Kilbride for a week in Paris to discuss its cultural and political importance.
Resources
A list of discussion questions is available.
Sponsors
In addition to the UI Center for Human Rights, co-sponsors include Hancher Auditorium, the UI Institute for Cinema and Culture, the University Book Store, Iowa Book, and the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Also participating are the Iowa City Schools and the West High School Library.