Alger – Bab-el-Oued

Following the two plays Les Mutins and La guerre de Troie commence demain, the essay Alger – Bab-el-Oued (1956) is a new revelation among the unpublished works of Jean Brune.

Everywhere, one breathes this "more secret perfume" that Albert Camus speaks of in L’Eté à Alger. While Camus sang of Belcourt, Brune focused on the district of Cagayous, Bab-el-Oued.

It is with great tenderness and humor that Jean Brune paints life in Bab-el-Oued over several decades. He reveals the secrets of many places and, of course, of the inhabitants of this fascinating and amusing melting pot.

In this new edition, excerpts from the Journal d’exil complement Jean Brune’s writings on Bab-el-Oued, which he considered his "homeland of the heart" even though he was not born there.