Voltaires of Algiers

“Voltaires d’Alger”, “dissidents of Islam” in Paris… Algerian writers have acquired an important place on the French intellectual scene over the last thirty years, questioning the place of the committed writer in the era of globalization. If the idea of politically committed literature has long been decried, that of the committed writer retains a particular aura, especially on the left. But behind the heroic figures of Voltaire, Zola or Sartre, or even behind the repulsive organic intellectuals of authoritarian regimes, complex relationships to political powers, intellectual trajectories and diverse types of writing are emerging, especially when writers and texts cross borders.