MEMMI, ALBERT

MEMMI, ALBERT
MEMMI, ALBERT (1920– ), French author and sociologist. Memmi, a native of Tunis, fought with the Free French during World War II. After completing his studies he returned to Tunis, where he became head of a psychological institute. In 1959, he joined the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris, and became a teacher at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes where he was appointed a professor in 1966.   He specialized in the social effects of colonization, finding a similarity between the situation of the Jew and that of colonized peoples. Though an advocate of independence for the countries of the Maghreb, he was well aware that one of its consequences would be the mass exodus of North African Jewry. Memmi's first two books were novels, both largely autobiographical. La statue de sel (1953; Pillar of Salt, 1955), is the story of a North African Jew's emergence from a narrow Jewish society through the discovery of French culture, and his eventual disillusionment with an idealized Western humanism. Agar (1955; Strangers, 1958) describes the isolation of a Tunisian Jew, rejected by both Frenchmen and Arabs. Memmi was still dealing with the same problem a decade later in essays such as Portrait d'un Juif (1962; Portrait of a Jew, 1963) and its sequel, La libération du Juif (1966; The Liberation of the Jew, 1966). He portrays the Jew as a "shadow figure," neither wholly assimilated nor anxious to lose his distinctiveness, concluding that "Israel is our only solution, our one trump card, our last historical opportunity." Memmi's sociological studies appeared in various journals and in Le Français et le racisme (1965). He published an Anthologie des écrivains nord-africains (1964) and a Bibliographie de la littérature nord-africaine d'expression française 1945–1962 (1965). He also wrote essays on Jewish subjects for L'Arche, Evidences, and Commentary. His later works include Dictionnaire critique à l'usage des incrédules (2002) and a conversation volume with Catherine Pont-Humbert, L'individu face à ses dépendances (2005). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sartre, in: Les Temps Modernes, 137–8 (1957), 289–92; Camus, in: A. Memmi, La statue de sel (1953), preface; A. Khatibi, Le Roman Maghrébin (1968); Di-Nour, in: Dispersion et Unité, 8 (1967), 81–92. (Jacqueline Kahanoff)

Encyclopedia Judaica. 1971.

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  • Memmi, Albert — ▪ Tunisian novelist born 1920, Tunis       French language Tunisian novelist and author of numerous sociological studies treating the subject of human oppression.       Memmi was the product of a poor Jewish section of the capital city of Tunisia …   Universalium

  • Memmi, Albert — (b. 1920)    French author and sociologist. He was born in Tunis. He fought with the Free French during World War II, and later became head of a psychology institute in Tunis. In 1966 he became professor at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes.… …   Dictionary of Jewish Biography

  • MEMMI (A.) — MEMMI ALBERT (1920 ) Si toute l’œuvre d’Albert Memmi vise à approfondir et à théoriser les notions d’«identité», d’«aliénation», de «dépendance», c’est parce qu’il les a d’abord rencontrées en réfléchissant sur lui même et sur sa situation au… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Memmi — (Albert) (né en 1920) écrivain français d origine tunisienne: la Statue de sel (roman, 1953), Portrait du colonisé (essai, 1957), le Juif et l autre (essai, 1995) …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Albert Memmi — Albert Memmi, né le 15 décembre 1920 à Tunis, est un écrivain et essayiste franco tunisien. Sommaire 1 Biographie 2 Concept de judéité 3 Concept d hétérophobie …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Albert Memmi — ( ar. ألبرت ميمي; born December 15, 1920) is a Tunisian Jewish writer and essayist who migrated to France.Born in colonial Tunisia, he spoke Arabic as his mother tongue. He was educated in French primary schools, and continued on to the Carnot… …   Wikipedia

  • Albert Memmi — (* 15. Dezember 1920 in Tunis, Französisch Nordafrika) ist ein tunesisch französischer Schriftsteller und Soziologe, der in über 20 Büchern Dekolonisation, Rassismus und Emigration untersuchte sowie das Lebensgefühl der Entfremdung und… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Albert Memmi — (Túnez, 15 de diciembre de 1920) es un escritor y ensayista franco tunecino. Nacido en Túnez, cuando este país era aún una colonia francesa, de origen judío y de lengua árabe, se formó en la escuela francesa, primero en el Lycée Carnot de Túnez,… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Memmi — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Albert Memmi (* 1920), französischer Schriftsteller und Soziologe tunesischer Herkunft Lippo Memmi (um 1285–um 1357), Sieneser Maler Diese Seite ist eine Begriffsklärung zur Unterscheidu …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Albert Bitran — est un peintre, graveur et sculpteur français né en 1931 à Istanbul, Turquie. Sommaire 1 Biographie 2 Repères 3 Collections publiques 4 …   Wikipédia en Français

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