Algeria Now

Douleurs muettes exposes hidden domestic violence in Algeria

· Source: Algeria Now

Douleurs muettes exposes hidden domestic violence in Algeria
Photo: Algeria Now

Fatiha Belkacem’s short‑story collection "Douleurs muettes" offers stark portraits of silent female suffering, highlighting the invisible road to police, courts or prison.

Published by El Qobia in 2022, the volume gathers fourteen brief narratives that depict the everyday reality of machisme and domestic abuse. Belkacem, a retired French teacher from Ain Benian who taught between 1972 and 2011, draws on her own observations to render the stories difficult yet realistic.

The author, who won the 2004 international short‑story prize organised by Les quatre points cardinaux, previously released "La femme en clair‑obscur" and "Guillotinés de Guyotville". In this latest work she writes, "Our ancestors are not the cruddy Gauls but the proud Numidians," underscoring a call for cultural self‑esteem.

A review of the book notes that it summarises "invisible situations" that often end in legal intervention, and describes the collection as a necessary, if unsettling, mirror of Algerian society. Belkacem adds, "In Algeria, our women are more mothers than wives, closer to their offspring than their husband."

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