Notes for Arabic Drama-April 24th Abdel Kaden Alloula was an incredibly famed Algerian playwright.

He was born in 1 2 ! and was assassinated by a radical fundamentalist in 1 4. "he Algerian go#ernment! in the wa$e of its independence! stressed great importance on cultural life! particularly through the theater. "his is when Alloula was gi#en the opportunity to rise to prominence. He became the director of the entire regional theater of Algeria. He was a man of many s$ills! an actor! a director! and a playwright. His best $nown wor$ with the latter is his trilogy $nown as The Generous. "he first part is $nown as The Sayings! the second The Generous Ones! and the final The Veil. "hey are all astutely social! all employing a populist rhetoric. "he moti#es for his assassination are still unclear. with some s$eptics claiming that the go#ernment is to blame. %onsider Alloula&s description! as he shows that there is a distincti#e #eiling of society. 't is the border between what is going on internally within the indi#iduals and the collecti#e discontent of society. "his suggests! then! that the entire country! all of the people! are distinctly #eiled under a false mas$. (nderneath this mas$! an entirely new reality is disco#ered. "hroughout the play! )arhoum embar$s on a *ourney. "his *ourney has different stages within it. He begins a *ourney! albeit unwillingly. "he second step would easily be when he is in the prison! as detailed on pg. +,. "he final and third step is when he is in the cemetery on page -1. %onsider how he now li#es a full life while communing with the dead. "his signifies that e#erything has full circle! and the hero&s metaphysical cycle has now been connected to the holistic picture. After all! physically! he buries his #eil! as well as his name. )erhoum is buried. %onsider his prologue as written in #erse. He wants the spectators to e.perience the emotions in a set! structured! and rigid manner. "his is almost a )rechtian techni/ue! in that he turns the familiar into the unfamiliar! alienating the e#eryday from the indi#idual. Narration is one of the most prominent and #ital components of the epic theater techni/ue and narrati#e. 0emember how these social beha#iors of re#olutionaries are meant to elicit a set prototype of people and their respecti#e social categories. "his is a strong component of the epic theater! in which characters are depri#ed of indi#idual psychological traits but! rather! are characteri1ed as social types. "hey are defined by their desires! their situations! etc. All of this has a thoroughly materialist and deterministic lens to it.