[go: nahoru, domu]
Wikipedia

Elissa Rhaïs: Difference between revisions

Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
→His work: edit section blurb out
Monkbot (talk | contribs)
Bots
3,543,351 edits
m Task 20: replace {lang-??} templates with {langx|??} ‹See Tfd› (Replaced 1);
 
(29 intermediate revisions by 16 users not shown)
Line 1:
{{Short description|Jewish-Algerian writer}}
'''Elissa Rhaïs''', born '''Rosine Boumendil''' (12 December 1876 - 18 August 1940) was a writer, who published novels and short stories set in Algeria.
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Elissa Rhaïs
| image = Elissa rhais-1.jpg
| birth_name = Rosine Boumendil
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1876|12|12|df=y}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1940|8|18|1876|12|12|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Blida]]
| death_place = [[Blida]]
| pseudonym = Elissa Rhaïs
| language = French
| occupation = Writer
| citizenship = [[Algeria]]
| genre = Romance
| notable_works = Saâda the Moroccan
}}
 
'''Elissa Rhaïs''' ({{Langx|he|אליסה ראיס}}), born '''Rosine Boumendil''' (12 December 1876 – 18 August 1940) was a [[History of the Jews in Algeria|Jewish-Algerian]] writer, who adopted the persona of a Muslim woman who had escaped from a harem to further her literary career. Her novels were popular in her lifetime, but declined; interest in her life was revived in the 1980s by a claim that all her publications had been [[Ghostwriter|ghost-written]] and that she was illiterate.
At the time, she pretended to be a Muslim who had fled a harem  . She will later admit to being a Jew from Algeria, and some critics will even accuse her of not being the author of the novels she signs.
 
== Biography ==
 
=== AlgeriaEarly life ===
Rosine Boumendil was born on 12 December 1876 in [[Blida]] to a Jewish family of modest means.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Déjeux|first=Jean|url=https://books.google.frcom/books?id=GIqosKCXtWIC&pg=PA184&dqq=Roland+Amar+Alg%C3%A9rie#v=onepage&qpg=Roland%20Amar%20Alg%C3%A9rie&f=falsePA184|title=Dictionnaire des auteurs maghrébins de langue française|date=1 January 1984-01-01|publisher=KARTHALA Editions|isbn=978-2-86537-085-6|language=fr}}</ref> Her father, Jacob, was a baker and her mother, Mazaltov (néeborn Seror) was a housewife.<ref name=":0" /> She went to thea local school until theshe age of twelve, when iswas placed intoas a domestic service within a Jewish family at the age of twelve.<ref name=":0" /> SheLater, latershe claimed toshe havehad attended the "École des Religieuses de la Doctrine Chrétienne", although it did not open until she was in her 20s.<ref name=":2">{{Citation|last=lorcin|first=patricia m e|editor1-first=Emmanuel K|editor1-last=Akyeampong|editor2-first=Henry Louis|editor2-last=Gates|title=Rhaı¨s, Elissa|date=2012|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195382075.001.0001/acref-9780195382075-e-1749|work=Dictionary of African Biography|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195382075.001.0001/acref-9780195382075-e-1749|isbn=978-0-19-538207-5|access-date=15 January 2021-01-15}}</ref> SheAt married18 Moïseyears Amarold, ashe Rabbi,married whena sherabbi wasnamed agedMoïse 18Amar. The couple had three children: a daughter, who died at theeleven ageyears of elevenold; a son, Jacob-Raymond (1902-1987); another daughter Mireille (1908-1930).<ref name=":0" /> Jacob-Raymond also became also a writer and a journalist underbetter theknown name ofas Roland Rhaïs,. andHe was one of the few Algerian Jews to obtain Algerian nationality after the independence.<ref name=":0" />
 
Rosine Boumendil and Amar divorced when she was 38 and she remarried a merchant, Mordecai Chemouil.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=Elissa Rhaïs|url=https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/rhais-elissa|access-date=2021-01-15 January 2021|website=Jewish Women's Archive|language=en}}</ref> They lived in a villa called the ''Villa des Fleurs'' in Algiers, where she opened a literary salon.<ref name=":1" /> Quickly,She shebecame becameknown as a storyteller, claiming that her stories were passed down to her by her mother and grandmother, and therefore are part of the rich folk heritage of her native region.<ref name=":1" /> She was encouraged by literary critics, such as [[Louis Bertrand (novelist)|Louis Bertrand]], to send her stories to literary magazines.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" />
 
=== ParisLiterary career ===
[[File:Elissa_Rhais-_Eleazar.jpg|thumb|Elissa Rhais- Eleazar]]
In 1919 Boumendil separated from her husband and moved to France because her husband disapproved of her literary ambitions.
In 1919 Boumendil moved to Paris to pursue a literary career. The novelist and critic [[Louis Bertrand (novelist)|Louis Bertrand]] had written a letter of introduction for her to [[René Doumic]], the editor of the ''Revue des Deux Mondes,'' who shortly after published five of her short stories.<ref name=":2" /> Subsequently, her first novel, ''Saada the Moroccan'' was published by [[Plon (publisher)|Plon]], a Parisian publishing house, using for the first time her pseudonym, Elissa Rhaïs.<ref name=":2" /> ''Saada the Moroccan'' was a bestseller, eventually running to twenty-six editions.<ref name=":2" /> From this time, Rhaïs began to present herself as a Muslim woman who had escaped from a harem, but how instrumental she was in this new persona's construction, or indeed whether she wrote the book and the others that followed at all, has been questioned.<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Rosello|first=Mireille|date=2006|title=Elissa Rhaïs: Scandals, Impostures, Who Owns the Story?|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3821114|journal=Research in African Literatures|volume=37|issue=1|pages=1–15|jstor=3821114|issn=0034-5210}}</ref> It has been suggested that her new identity was created as marketing ploy orchestrated by Louis Bertrand and René Doumic; alternatively that it was an invention of Rhaïs herself.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Lorcin|first=Patricia M. E.|date=1 December 2012|title=Manipulating Elissa: the uses and abuses of Elissa Rhaïs and her works|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2012.723436|journal=The Journal of North African Studies|volume=17|issue=5|pages=903–922|doi=10.1080/13629387.2012.723436|s2cid=143680947|issn=1362-9387}}</ref>
 
From 1919 to 1930, numerous novels, novellas and short stories were published under Elissa Rhaïs' name, mostly romances that are set in an exotic north African settings featuring female heroines and Muslim culture in the period surrounding the [[First World War]].<ref name=":3" /> Some of her work reflected current affairs: for example ''La riffaine'' (1929) was a novel set in the [[Rif War]].<ref name=":3" /> They were translated into Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish and Russian.<ref name=":3" />
She disembarks on October 28 , 1917in Marseille with her son Jacob-Raymond, her daughter Mireille and her adopted son , Raoul-Robert Tabet, nephew of her second husband. They moved to Paris, where after having had three short stories published under the title ''Le Café chantant'' in the Revue des deux Mondes , she signed a five-year contract with the Plon publishing house . She published her first novel ''Saâda la Marocaine'' under the pseudonym of Elissa Rhaïs. With her consent, her editor invents a romantic story for her, passes her off as a Muslim who learned French in Algeria at public school, then lived in a harem.<sup>[ref. necessary]</sup> . He nicknamed it "L'Orientale". The fashion was then orientalism, and the stories written by an oriental woman who was cloistered, must excite the curiosity of many readers. The fact that she writes in French is proof of the contribution of colonization to indigenous peoples . However, what almost all readers ignore is that since the Crémieux decree of 1870 which gave French nationality to the Jews of Algeria, they have free access to public schools and education. French, which is absolutely not the case for the rest of the natives.
 
Rhaïs did establish a literary salon in Paris, which was frequented by writers such as [[Colette]], [[Paul Morand]], [[Jean Amrouche]], as well as the actress [[Sarah Bernhardt]].<ref name=":2" /> There, Rhaïs dressed in combinations of [[Berbers|Berber]] and Muslim clothing, suggesting an exotic background which was popularised with a cultural fascination at the time for all things "[[Orientalism|Oriental]]".<ref name=":2" /> She spoke out against the emancipation of Arab women, noting in Turkey it had led to "widespread immorality".<ref name=":3" /> Her popularity in France waned from around 1930, which coincided with the death of her daughter and increasing criticism of the persona in Algeria.<ref name=":3" /> Rhaïs retired from public life.<ref name=":2" />
From 1919 to 1930 , Rhaïs published nine novels and three collections of short stories. These are romance novels , set in an exotic North Africa. Her sentimental accounts take place, with a few exceptions, in different Muslim circles before the First World War with many female heroines.
 
=== Later life ===
One exception, ''Les Juifs ou la fille d'Éleazar'' , considered his best novel and whose characters are middle-class Jews, struggling between modernity and tradition against a backdrop of amorous intrigue.
During the 1930s, Rhaïs' popularity waned and she returned to live in [[Blida]]. She died there on 18 August 1940.<ref name=":2" />
 
== Selected works ==
In Paris, it reopens a salon, frequented by many artists including Colette , Paul Morand , actress Sarah Bernhardt and the young Algerian writer Jean Amrouche , among others . André Gide calls it the “rose of the Sahel  ”.
[[File:Elissa_Rhais_-_Cafe_chantant.jpg|thumb|Elissa Rhais – Cafe chantant]]
<!-- {{Wikisource author|wslink=Elissa Rhaïs}} no such target at enWS-->
 
=== Stays BlidaNovels ===
* ''Saâda the Moroccan'' . (Paris: 1919) ▼
From 1922 , Rhaïs made numerous trips to Algeria, to Blida. It is then notorious that Raoul Tabet, the nephew of her husband, whom she employs as a secretary, became her lover. After the death of his daughter in 1930 , from typhoid fever , during a stay they made together in Morocco, Rhaïs then retired from public life and no longer published books. Very quickly, she will be forgotten, and it will take more than fifty years for us to talk about her again and for her books to be republished.
* ''The SingingLe Café. Parischantant''  (Paris: 1920 )▼
* ''Les Juifs ou la fille d’Eléazar'' (Paris: 1921)
* ''TheLa DaughterFille ofdes the Pashaspachas'' . (Paris: 1922 )▼
* ''TheLa DaughterFille ofdu the Douardouar'' , (Paris,: 1924 )▼
* ''La Chemise qui porte bonheur'' (Paris: 1925)
* ''AndalusianL'Andalouse'' . (Paris: 1925) ▼
* ''TheLe WeddingMariage ofde Hanifa'' , (Paris,: 1926) ▼
* ''TheLe WhiteSein Breastblanc'' . (Paris: 1928) ▼
* ''ByPar thela voicevoix ofde musicla musique'' . (Paris: 1927) ▼
* ''TheLa Lucky ShirtRiffaine'' , (Paris,: 19251929) ▼
*''Petits Pachas en exil'' (Paris: 1929)
* ''La Convertie. Paris'' (Paris: 1930 )▼
 
=== Theatre ===
She died suddenly in Blida on August 18 , 1940.
* ''Le parfum, la femme et la prière'' (1933)
 
=== HisShort workstories ===
* ''ChildrenEnfants ofde Palestine'' in the ''Weekly Review'' ,(August 1931 .)▼
▲* ''Saâda the Moroccan'' . Paris: 1919
* ''Judith'' , in ''Le Journal'' du April 15 ,April 1939 at April 24 ,April 1939▼
▲* ''The Singing Café. Paris''  : 1920
* ''The Jews or Eleazar's Daughter'' , Paris, 1921
▲* ''The Daughter of the Pashas'' . Paris: 1922
▲* ''The Daughter of the Douar'' , Paris, 1924
▲* ''The Lucky Shirt'' , Paris, 1925
▲* ''Andalusian'' . Paris: 1925
▲* ''The Wedding of Hanifa'' , Paris, 1926
▲* ''The White Breast'' . Paris: 1928
▲* ''By the voice of music'' . Paris: 1927
* ''La Riffaine'' followed by ''Petits Pashas en exile'' , Paris, 1929
▲* ''La Convertie. Paris'' : 1930
▲* ''Children of Palestine'' in the ''Weekly Review'' ,August 1931 .
* ''Perfume, Woman and Prayer'' , theater, 1933
▲* ''Judith'' , in ''Le Journal'' du April 15 , 1939 at April 24 , 1939
 
== Mystification or notReception ==
Whilst popular at the time, her novels were not critically acclaimed.<ref name=":4" /> They have been accused of perpetuating stereotypes of Muslim sexuality.<ref name=":3" /> Her works were more popular in France than Algeria, but she did have support there from Robert Randau ([[:fr:Robert Randau|fr]]), a leading literary figure there.<ref name=":3" />
 
At the time there was some doubt about her authenticity, with the novelist [[Lucienne Favre]],<ref>author: Lucienne Favre; editor: Bernard Grasset; 1930; ASIN: B00183RZQK</ref> writing:<blockquote>“It seems that in France, we love the Moors in all conditions. This is why there is an old Jewess, a former rabbi's wife, who masquerades as an Arab, and falsely tells stories about our race and our traditions. She thus earns a lot of money, she says."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Déjeux|first=Jean|date=1984|title=Élissa Rhaïs, conteuse algérienne (1876 -1940)|url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/remmm_0035-1474_1984_num_37_1_2021|journal=Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée|volume=37|issue=1|pages=47–79|doi=10.3406/remmm.1984.2021}}</ref></blockquote>
=== Attacks against the character she has created ===
In the 1930s, Charles Hagel's anti-Semitic ''Le Péril Juif'' criticized her violently and called her an impostor for posing as a Muslim.
 
== Legacy ==
The novelist Lucienne Favre in her novel ''Orientale''  of 1930, makes speak a Muslim Algerian  :<blockquote>“It seems that in France, we love the Moors in all conditions. This is why there is an old Jewess, a former rabbi's wife, who masquerades as an Arab, and falsely tells stories about our race and our traditions. She thus earns a lot of money, she says. "</blockquote>
Regardless of the situation that the novels were produced in, Rhaïs has an important place in [[History of the Jews in Algeria|Judeo-Maghrebian]] literature, as an early female Jewish-Algerian writer.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Dugas|first1=Guy|last2=Geesey|first2=Patricia|date=1992|title=An Unknown Maghrebian Genre: Judeo-Maghrebian Literature of French Expression|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3820391|journal=Research in African Literatures|volume=23|issue=2|pages=21–32|jstor=3820391|issn=0034-5210}}</ref> However her life has continued to be a source of intrigue and fantasy in the media, due to the publication of the novel ''Elissa Rhaïs, un roman'' and the subsequent television production.<ref name=":3" />
 
=== TrueThe authorTabet or mystifierAffair ===
In 1982 , Paul Tabet, the son of Raoul Tabet, who was both the nephew- and the lover of Elissa Rhaïs, published at Grasset a book ''Elissa Rhaïs''  , in which he affirmed that his father would have confessed to him tothat behe was the real author of the novels attributed to Rhaïs.<ref>{{Cite Althoughbook|last=Tabet, thisPaul.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/9895728|title=Elissa bookRhaïs made: aroman|date=1982|publisher=B. lotGrasset|isbn=2-246-27611-X|location=Paris|oclc=9895728}}</ref> ofThis talkbook caused a sensation in the media, thatand Paul Tabet had the honor of beingwas interviewed by [[Bernard Pivot]] aton ''Apostrophes'' le Mayon 7 ,May 1982. However, the vast majority of academic critics specializing in French-speaking Maghreb literature , consider Tabet's allegations to be unlikely.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=|title=Grandeur d'âme, exubérance des sens et sentiments exacerbés|url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?url=http://www.sitartmag.com/elissarhais.htm|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917101327/http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?url=http://www.sitartmag.com/elissarhais.htm |archive-date=17 September 2021 |access-date=17 January 2021|website=archive.wikiwix.com}}</ref> Denise Brahimi, writing in the introduction entitled ''Lire Elissa Rhaïs'' speaks of "a poor scandal".<ref>Denise Brahimi: ''Proceedings of the World Congress of French Literature'' ; Responsible for the volume: Giuliana Toso-Rodinis; publisher: Centro Stampa di Palazzo Maldura; Padua; 1984; pages: 463 to 471</ref>
 
The TV movie ''Le secret d'Elissa Rhaïs'' was filmed in 1993 by the director Jacques Otmezguine ([[:fr:Jacques Otmezguine|fr]]), based on the book by Paul Tabet but in a romanticized way.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Wikiwix's cache|url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/index2.php?url=http://www.imdb.fr/title/tt0351709/|access-date=17 January 2021|website=archive.wikiwix.com}}</ref>
Denise Brahimi, in the introduction entitled ''Lire Elissa Rhaïs'' speaks of "a poor scandal   ".
 
In the second issue of Nouvelles littéraires dealing with the Elissa Rhaïs Affair, Paul Enckell asks himself the question "There is no Elissa Rhaïs affair." Is there a Paul Tabet case? "
 
An in-depth study of the scandal provoked by Paul Tabet's book, with an analysis of the position of many critics on the subject is carried out by Mireille Rosello, of Northwestern University under the title of ''Elissa Rhaïs; Scandals; Impostures; Who Owns the Story  ?'' .
 
The TV movie ''Le secret d'Elissa Rhaïs''  was shot for television in 1993 by director Jacques Otmezguine from the book by Paul Tabet. The scenario therefore takes up the latter's thesis in a romanticized way.
 
== References ==
{{Reflist}}{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rhais, Elissa}}
[[Category:1876 births]]
[[Category:1940 deaths]]
[[Category:Algerian-Jewish diaspora in France]]
[[Category:People from Blida]]
[[Category:Algerian novelists]]
[[Category:Jewish novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century Algerian women writers]]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elissa_Rhaïs"