Myriam Ben
Myriam Ben (10 October 1928 – 2001) was an Algerian activist, novelist, poet, and painter.[1]
Early life
Marylise Ben Haïm was born in
Social and political justice
Though French citizenship for Algerian Jews was restored in 1943, Ben was now active as an "advocate for the rights of the so-called indigenous poor".
In 1946, Ben expressed an interest in enrolling in the Aero Club of Algiers, but her father was against it. She was still considered a minor as she was under 21 years old, so had to wait five years to take up flying. In 1951, after 15 hours of flight lessons, she was awarded her pilot's licence. She is considered to be the first qualified woman pilot in Algeria. To pay for her flying lessons, she piloted introductory flights for potential new club members, although some people were wary of a woman pilot. This did not prevent her from learning how to fly aerobatics with the chief pilot at the Aero Club, a veteran of the Escadrille d'Etampes.[2]
In 1952, Ben received her first assignment as a teacher at a school in the village of Aboutville (now called Aïn El Hadjar, Bouïra). It was a poor village and the school was in bad condition but she was enthusiastic about her role. When parents were ashamed to send their children to school because they had no shoes, Ben would go to fetch them. From 1954, Marylise's political commitments forced her to go underground and she stopped flying.[2]
Ben supported the anti-French
Art and literature
In 1967, Ben began her artistic career as a poet, short-story writer, novelist, and painter.[3] She published a number of collections of poetry, a collection of short stories (Ainsi naquit un homme, 1982), and the novel Sabrina (1986), her longest work.[3] Sabrina told the story of two Muslims in love who were raised French and faced difficulties adapting to the new Algerian government. The French writer, translator, and scholar Albert Bensoussan thinks Ben used the characters of Sabrina to explore the displacement she experienced with French culture in an independent Algeria. [1]
Ben's dramatic work, "Leïla, poème scénique en deux actes et un prologue," from Ben's collection, Leïla: Les enfants du mendiant, centers the heroine, Leila, a moudjahida. Caroline E. Kelley reads this work as a reinterpretation of the story of Antigone. [4]
Ben was also celebrated for her
Retirement to France
In 1991, as Algeria entered a period of civil war, Ben moved to France. In Ben's novella, Nora, she writes about a hope for an Algeria where girls have "equal access to education". She dreamed of a utopian future society for Algeria that was inclusive.[1]
She continued to write and paint until her death in 2001.[1]
Publications
- Le soleil assassiné, ISBN 2-7475-2176-1(poetry)
- Au carrefour des sacrifices, ISBN 2738413005(poetry)
- Quand les cartes sont truquées, ISBN 2738478654(memoir)
- Leïla: Les enfants du mendiant, ISBN 2738468942(play)
- Ainsi naquit un homme, ISBN 2738419240
- Sabrina, ils t'ont volé ta vie, ISBN 2858027080(novel)
- Sur le chemin de nos pas, L'Harmattan, Paris, 1984. (poetry)
- L'âme de Sabrina, L'Harmattan, Paris, 2001. (short story)
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Hammerman, Jessica (2015). "Ben, Myriam". In Stillman, Norman A. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World. Brill. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
- ^ a b Team, Centennial (25 July 2015). "Marylise Ben Haïm - Algeria". Women in Aviation & Space History. Retrieved 1 December 2022.
- ^ ISBN 9781134582235.
- ^ Kelley, Caroline E. (2011). "Toward a Minor Theatre: Myriam Ben's Algerian Antigone". 452°F: Journal of Theory of Literature and Comparative Literature. 5: 74–98.
- ISBN 9781118515051.