Ungelded Texts

  Introduction Jean Sénac (1926-1973) was a Francophone Algerian poet and correspondent of Albert Camus.  Many of his poems, such as this one, deal with the struggle for Algerian independence.  His murder remains unsolved to this day. The persons mentioned in this poem are Henri Alleg (1921-2013), a journalist who was arrested and tortured by the French government; Djamila Bouhired (b. 1935), a revolutionary who, at the time of this poem (1957), had been sentenced to death for an alleged terrorist bombing, though her sentence was later commuted to prison time; and Larbi Ben M'hidi (1923-1957), a prominent revolutionary and founder of the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN), who had recently been arrested, tortured, and executed by the French government. This poem was written in 1957 and first published in Sénac's collection Matinale de mon peuple  (1961). The Bearers of News How beautiful are the bearers of news! They will say: “Peace in Algeria!” We will know...

  Introduction Alfred Jarry (1873-1907) was an eccentric writer, best-known for his series of plays centered on the character of Ubu, with the first play, Ubu Roi  (1896), being his most famous work.  He wrote much else as well: novels, poems, essays, many relating to his concept of 'pataphysics.  (The leading apostrophe is part of the spelling.)  Like most writers, he also wrote many occasional bits, articles and reviews and the like, in order to actually keep food on the table.   The review translated here—first published n La Revue blanche , No. 180 (December 1, 1900)—discusses the 1900 collection Contes et nouvells, suivi de Théâtre (Stories and Tales, Followed by Plays)  by Rachilde, the pen name of Marguerite Vallette-Eymery (1860-1953).  Though a woman, she typically described her literary persona as masculine: "Rachilde, man of letters"; so Jarry uses masculine pronouns to refer to her here, though he knew her fairly well and correspo...