Margins
Confessions of a Madman book cover
Confessions of a Madman
2011
First Published
3.59
Average Rating
94
Number of Pages
Confessions of a Madman personalizes the struggle of a civil war by following the fragmentation and irreversible separation of a single family. Written in alternating flashbacks and descriptions of a man s present, Sebbar delivers what French critics call a modern fable for adults: a tale of familial disorientation, identity, violence, and morality. A young man observes his mother go crazy waiting for her murdered husband to return home. Despite his estrangement with his father, the son vows to avenge his father s death by murdering his father s killers. In delving into his father s past, he discovers his role in an unsuccessful revolt and soon finds himself following in his father s footsteps. He finds himself questioning the value of religious standards and cultural traditions when confronted with sociopolitical conflict. This text discusses the meaningfulness of cultural traditions, their origins, and their potential contemporary repercussions when juxtaposed with a modern context of events."
Avg Rating
3.59
Number of Ratings
22
5 STARS
23%
4 STARS
32%
3 STARS
32%
2 STARS
9%
1 STARS
5%
goodreads

Author

Leila Sebbar
Leila Sebbar
Author · 8 books

Leïla Sebbar is an Algerian author, the daughter of a French mother and an Algerian father. She spent her youth in colonial Algeria but now lives in Paris and writes in French. She writes about the relationship between France and Algeria and often juxtaposes the imagery of both countries to show the difference in cultures between the two. Sebbar deals with a variety of topics, and either adopts a purely fictional approach or uses psychology to make her point. Many of Sebbar's novels express the frustrations of the Beur, the second generation of Maghribi youth who were born and raised in France and who have not yet integrated into French society. Her book Parle mon fils, parle à ta mère (1984; Talk son, talk to your mother), illustrates the absence of dialogue between two generations who do not speak the same language.

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