A Bookshop in Algiers

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The contemporary chapters, focused on Ryad and his efforts to clean out the small Les Vrais Richesses store as well as longtime caretake Abdallah, are a sad coda to this bit of literary history. Küçücük kitabevinin kapısından Albert Camus, Antoine de Saint-Exupery,Andre Gide gibi nice isimler girdi.Edmond Charlot ise onların yayıncısı,editörü ve dostu oldu. Ancak bunca güzellik ile birlikte engeller de mevcuttu. İlk olarak bu kitabevi Cezayir’deydi. Fransa’nın,savaşın,ayrımcılığın gölgesinde olduğunuzda tutkulularınızı yerine getirmek pek kolay olmuyor.. Our Riches" is a fictionalized biography of book publisher Edmond Charlot, a window into mid-Twentieth Century Algerian history, and an expression of love of the written word. At the young age of 20, Charlot opened Les Vraies Richesses (the true wealth) in 1936 in Algiers. It was a small bookstore, lending library, and cultural center where Charlot also published Mediterranean authors. Many of his publications are widely read classics today, especially those written by Albert Camus. Charlot's life is told in brief journal entries from the 1930s to the 1960s, grounded in historical research. The creation of the bookstore and publishing company, a second publishing location in wartime Paris, and Charlot's friendships with the authors are all part of the journal.

I am pretty much a pre-sold believer in any books about books, libraries and publishing and I was completely captivated by Adimi's world building here of Charlot's life and of present day Algiers. The translation by Chris Andrews was excellent and flowed smoothly. Edmond Charlot – Buchhändler, Verleger, Freund von Schriftstellern. Nie gehört? Ich bis vor wenigen Tagen auch nicht. Charlot gründete in den 30er Jahren eine Buchhandlung in Algier, die von Beginn an viel mehr als eine Buchhandlung war. Von den 30ern bis ins Jahr 2017 folgen wir dieser Geschichte, mal in Tagebuchnotizen Charlots, mal aus Sicht des Studenten Ryad, der in der Gegenwart die ehemalige Buchhandlung ausräumen und streichen soll. Da passiert allerhand Geschichte so nebenbei; der Zweite Weltkrieg, der Unabhängigkeitskamp Algeriens… Camus redigiert in der Buchhandlung seine Texte, auch Saint-Exupéry gehört zu den engen Freunden. Zeitweise lenkt Charlot das Geschäft von Paris aus. Freundschaften werden zu Feindschaften. Vieles wird zerstört. Ha llegado el fin de semana. No tengo ninguna lectura entre manos por lo que también ha llegado ese momento tan especial y bonito, el de escoger una nueva lectura. No me gusta tener programadas mis lecturas ya que siempre acabo leyendo lo que me apetece en cada momento. Me guío por impulso, no siempre acierto pero ahí también reside la magia.The story in this short novella, is told in two streams one in set in 2017 and the other which is in a diary entry form narrated by Charlot and spans 1930s, through WW2 and Algiers resistance through to 1961. Kaouther Adimi's novel is multilayered in its presentation: there are sections set in 2017, when the tiny storefront -- measuring only some seven by four meters -- has been bought by someone who plans on letting his nephew open a beignet shop in its stead; the engineering student Ryad travels from France to take on the job of clearing out the place and repainting it for the handover, while Abdallah, the longterm caretaker of the place warily watches what happens to the establishment.

A sort of meeting place for friends, but with a Mediterranean outlook too: bringing together writers from all the Mediterranean countries, regardless of language or religion I loved this novel for its timeless adoration of literature. Stories withstand throughout all and that is truly beautiful. “Literature, at least, will never abandon me” being a fantastic quote to stand by this. There is so much gorgeous writing in this book, a credit to the Adimi, but also to Chris Andrews, the translator. El relato de Adimi, una biografía novelada del prestigioso editor parisino, está compuesto de tres hilos argumentales que se trenzan a lo largo de la obra hasta formar un delicioso y vibrante fresco donde la librería actúa como epicentro de la narración. Proyecto editorial, estandarte político, refugio para desamparados, testigo de acontecimientos históricos y cuna de escritores como André Gide o Albert Camus, Las Verdaderas Riquezas constituye en sí misma un fascinante personaje que, olvidada ya su época de mayor gloria, está a punto de ser convertida por su nuevo propietario en un puesto dedicado a la venta de buñuelos. These entries are tinged with nostalgia and loss, another store of Charlot's repeatedly bombed and ultimately destroyed in 1961, with his correspondence and archives all lost: "A whole life reduced to rubble".

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Still other sections are written in the first-person plural, a communal omniscient narrator observing the situation over the many decades, the voice of the locals in one, describing more generally both the long struggle against the French colonialists and then the near-present-day situation.

I really enjoyed the way this book went between these two timelines, whilst also inserting cultural and political turmoil into the shaping of the plot. We saw a very personal insight into part of Algeria’s history, as well as a perspective offering a wider view on this political unrest. All the while not feeling daunting or like it was belittling the reader in anyway. This is a moment in history I don’t know too much about, but I now feel compelled to learn more. Charlot's bookshop is named after a novel that he admires Les Vraies Richesses: (1937) by Jean Giono (1895-1970). Adimi adds many cameo appearances by young writers of the time that Charlot was to publish, notably Albert Camus (1913-1960) with his first works. She builds a complete timeline of Charlot's life through a series of diary entries that take us through all of the ups and downs of his career. He finds a small spot -- 2b Rue Charras (conveniently near the university) -- and sets up shop, his ambition that it: "be a library, a bookstore, a publishing house, but above all a place for friends who love the literature of the Mediterranean". Charlot had been born in Algeria into one of the original French colonial families. As a Pied-Noir (person of European heritage who was born in Algeria during French rule) there was continual tension with the Algerian people, and his bookshop, and lending library, operated through highly unstable times as the independence movement gained force, leading to the Algerian War of 1954-1962, including specifically the Battle of Algiers. He based himself both in Algeria and in Paris, depending on time's sway.No obstante, la historia comienza con el fin de la librería, más tarde convertida en biblioteca cuando ya no vende ningún libro y es de alguna manera rescatada por los organismos públicos de Argel. Pero, incluso convertida en biblioteca, el establecimiento no resulta fácil de mantener y al final, termina siendo vendido para convertirse en pastelería, muy a pesar del bibliotecario de ese momento, a quien le duele que la gente parezca haber dejado de interesarse por la literatura. Adimi gives a sense of the scale of these, and many of the lives affected, but when even a Camus figures as barely more than an incidental character it's hard not to think that (too) much is missing.

A Bookshop in Algiers follows two timelines as we see the creation and then ruin of a bookshop that once felt like the heart of so many bibliophiles. Going between the 1930’s-1960’s and present day, we see two different characters and their relationships with books, and how books change them. I tried to see if I could locate 2 bis Rue Hamani (previously Rue Charras) via Google Maps but didn't get very far, but here is a photo of Rue Hamani in general: If you do nothing, you will be auto-enrolled in our premium digital monthly subscription plan and retain complete access for 65 € per month.

I read A Bookshop in Algiers thanks to my subscription to Paris bookshop Shakespeare and Company's Year of Reading 2020 New Releases. The author was born in Algeria (1983) and now lives in France. This is her third novel and it was nominated for the Prix Goncourt. Por la mañana, cuando llego a la librería, me paro un momento delante del escaloncito que hay ante la puerta para contemplar el local que me pertenece. En ocasiones me quedo allí inmóvil tanto tiempo que el camarero del café de al lado se alarma y me pregunta si va todo bien. Pues claro que va todo bien: los libros están colocados por orden alfabético, las obras de arte colgadas justo encima, y aquí solo tienen derecho de ciudadanía la literatura, el arte y la amistad.”]