Albert Memmi was born at the crossroads of three cultures, and his work focuses on the difficulty of finding a balance between East and West. His most recognized essay explores the interdependent relationship between the colonizer and the colonized, dissecting power dynamics and the psychological impact of colonialism. Memmi delves into the complexities of identity and alienation in a post-colonial world. His later writings build upon these themes, examining the challenges of decolonization and the responsibility for nation-building.
Women as seen through the eyes of men! Set in a Paris restaurant, a reunion of old school friends provides a vehicle for the telling of after-dinner anecdotes on the theme of male-female relationships. A chance meeting, a moment of love, a tender memory, a bitter one.
Written in 1957, when North African independence movements were gaining momentum, Memmi depicts colonialism as a disease of the European but crucially he demonstrates that colonialism destroys both the colonizer and the colonized. Memmiâ__s penetrating insights into the colonial inheritance, and attempts to resist colonisation, remain as relevant today.