Benaïssa, Slimane 1943–

PERSONAL: Born 1943, in Guelma, Algeria; immigrated to France, 1993. Education: Studied mathematics and electrical engineering in Algeria.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Grove/Atlantic Press, 841 Broadway, New York, NY 10003. E-mail—[email protected]

CAREER: Playwright, novelist, and actor. Director of theater company in Algeria, 1967–78; founder and director of first independent theater company of Algeria, 1978–93. Film roles include Autre côté de la mer, 1997, Harem de Mme Osmane, 2000, and C'était pas la guerre.

MEMBER: Haut Conseil de la Francophonie

AWARDS, HONORS: Lauréat du Grand Prix Francophone de la SACD, 1993; Prix Méditerranée, 2003, for La dernière nuit d'un damné.

WRITINGS:

PLAYS

Au-delà du voile (title means "Beyond the Veil"), Editions Lansman (Paris, France) 1991.

Le conseil de discipline (title means "The Disciplinary Board"), Editions Lansman (Paris, France), 1994.

Marianne et le marabout (title means "Marianne and the Marabout"), Editions Lansman (Paris, France), 1995.

Les fils de l'amertume (title means "Wire of the Bitterness"), Editions Lansman (Paris, France), 1996.

Un home ordinaire pour quatre femmes particulières (title means "An Ordinary Man for Four Particular Women"), Editions Lansman (Paris, France), 1997.

Prophètes sans dieu (title means "Prophets without God"), Editions Lansman (Paris, France), 1999.

(With André Chouraqui) L'avenir oublié (title means "Forgotten Future,"), Editions Lansman (Paris, France), 1999.

Ailleurs, ailleurs (title means "Elsewhere, Elsewhere"), École des Loisirs, 2000.

Mémoireacute;s à la dérive (title means "Memories with the Drift"), Editions Lansman (Paris, France), 2001.

Also author, with Michel Dezoteux, of Un noir, une blanche: Noir-Hamlet (title means "Black, White: Black-Hamlet"), 2002. Translator of plays by Bertolt Brecht, Aeschylus, Kateb Yacine, and other authors from French into Arabic.

NOVELS

Les fils de l'amertume, Editions Plon (Paris, France), 1999.

Le silence de la falaise, Editions Plon (Paris, France), 2001.

La dernière nuit d'un damné, translation by Janice and Daniel Gross published as The Last Night of a Damned Soul, Grove Press (New York, NY), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS: Born and raised in Algeria, Slimane Benaïssa speaks and writes both Arabic and French. Although he studied electrical engineering, he gravitated to the theater in his native country, working as an actor and director before founding Algeria's first national theater troupe. He immigrated to France in 1993 after some of his work caught the attention of Muslim extremists and he received terrorist threats. Himself a Muslim, Benaïssa creates plays and fiction about the theological, moral, and psychological underpinnings of radical beliefs.

Benaïssa's first work to be translated into English, The Last Night of a Damned Soul, won France's prestigious Prix Méditerranée in 2003. The novel follows its central character, Raouf, as he becomes enmeshed in an extremist sect planning a terrorist attack on the United States. At the beginning of the novel, Raouf, an American, lives with a Christian girlfriend and holds a job as a software designer. After the death of his father, he comes under the influence of a co-worker who encourages him to embrace fundamentalist Muslim practices—and ultimately to consider himself destined for heaven through an act of violence.

The Last Night of a Damned Soul was viewed as its author's response to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. What Benaïssa attempts to do is to help readers understand how terrorists are recruited and indoctrinated. He evinces no sympathy for such violent behavior, however, suggesting instead that it arises from brainwashing and hatred. A Publishers Weekly reviewer called the novel "sobering" and "a chilling look at a matter that is unfortunately all too real," while Library Journal reviewer Misha Stone praised the book as "a riveting and timely exploration of religious extremism and its very human dimensions." Donna Seaman concluded in her Booklist review that Benaïssa's "disturbing tale is both timely and timeless in its portrait of a terrorist in the making."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 15, 2004, Donna Seaman, review of The Last Night of a Damned Soul, p. 205.

Chicago Tribune, November 7, 2004, Steven G. Kellman, review of The Last Night of a Damned Soul, p. 5.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2004, review of The Last Night of a Damned Soul, p. 699.

Library Journal, September 1, 2004, Misha Stone, review of The Last Night of a Damned Soul, p. 136.

Publishers Weekly, August 30, 2004, review of The Last Night of a Damned Soul, p. 32.

ONLINE

Grove/Atlantic Web site, http://www.groveatlantic.com/ (April 4, 2005), "A Muslim Perspective on 9/11: Algerian Author Slimane Benaïssa Visits Grinnell College."

Slimane Benaïssa Home Page, http://www.slimanebenaissa.com (April 4, 2005).