Deborah et les anges dissipes: Roman (French Language Edition).

Paris, France Mercure de France, 1991. Paperback First Edition Thus [1991]; unstated. Very Near Fine in Wraps: shows only the most minute indications of use: just a hint of wear to extremities; very faint toning to the light blue background field of the backstrip (the titles thereon remain bold and clearly legibel). The binding shows barely discernible lean, but remains perfectly secure; the text is clean. Very close to 'As New'. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. 345pp. First Edition Thus [1991]; unstated. Paperback. Paula Jacques was born in Cairo, Egypt in 1949. She is a French novelist, journalist, and the host of a long running radio program "Cosmopolitaine"on the French public station France Inter. She and her family were expelled from Egypt in 1958 during the period of nationalization under Nasser. The family immigrated to Israel where Jacques lived on a kibbutz for three years. In 1961, she and her family left for France. Alongside her novelistic production, Jacques has been involved in French theater, radio, and the press. She is a prolific novelist. Her nine novels to date focus exclusively on the Jews of Egypt mostly during the 1940s and 1950s. Her novels can be described as reflecting the postcolonial condition. In the novels, both Egyptian Jews and Muslims interact in day-to-day activity. In a few novels, like Gilda Stambouli souffre et se plaint (2002) and Un Baiser froid comme la lune (1983) Jacques takes her characters from Egypt to France and Israel where they face issues of acculturation. The characters' relationship to French language and culture is problematized and so is their relationship to Israel. Jacques's characters are complex. They confront hostility, humiliation, conflicted ideologies, political instability, and cultural alienation. The novels explore the conditions under which Jews lived in Egypt in the years and days before their peremptory expulsion; the most developed cases are Lumière de l'oeil, L'Héritage de la tante Carlotta, Les Femmes avec leur amour, and the tragic La Descente au paradis. In her novels, Jacques describes the suffering and humiliation experienced by both Jews and Muslims and shows both perspectives. Her novels are as hugely entertaining as they are profound. Paula Jacques is the winner of the Prix Femina, 1991, for "Deborah et les anges dissipés".