The Watchers
by Tahar Djaout
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Description
"A furious and passionate indictment of injustice . . . and everyday oppression."--"Booklist"From the renowned author of "The Last Summer of Reason "comes this award-winning, morally resonant fable of -bureaucracy, fundamentalism, and the danger of sacrificing liberty in the name of patriotism.Sensuously written and passionately political, "The Watchers "follows the fortunes of two neighbors--an old soldier and a young inventor. The inventor's efforts to patent a loom quickly devolve into a show more Kafkaesque tangle of forms, passports, and malevolent, suspicious clerks; his mysterious project also leads the soldier and his fellow veterans deeper into a labyrinth of suspicion and fear.This chilling, elegant novel features Tahar Djaout at his incisive best--and, at a time when civil liberties are constantly challenged, allows readers to contemplate the dark con-sequences of a culture of spies. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
A physics teacher in post-revolution Algeria invents an updated loom in honor of his late grandmother. He meets resistance from bureaucrats and suspicion from aging revolutionaries until he is praised in a small news item.
Ratings
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Lists
Bureaucracies
25 works; 2 members
Schwob Nederland
207 works; 2 members
Author Information
8 Works 322 Members
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Awards
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
Transfer Europa (16)
Common Knowledge
- Original title
- Les Vigiles
- Original publication date
- 1991
- Original language
- French
Classifications
- Genres
- Fiction and Literature, General Fiction
- DDC/MDS
- 843.914 — Literature & rhetoric French & related literatures French fiction 1900- 20th Century 1945-1999
- LCC
- PQ3989.2 .D538 .V5413 — Language and Literature French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese literatures French literature Provincial, local, colonial, etc.
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 41
- Popularity
- 713,201
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.70)
- Languages
- Dutch, English, French, German
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 1
