Lamine Ammar-Khodja sonde les lignes de fracture – Le Jeune Indépendant

Does Algerian literature really float where we think we see it? At the 28th Algiers International Book Fair (SILA), an essay attempts to answer this burning question. Freshly published by Motifs Editions, “The Submerged Part of the Iceberg, In Praise of the Algerian GPS”, signed by Lamine Ammar-Khodja, dives into the heart of the tensions, reconnections and invisible borders that cross Algerian literary creation.
A bold, impactful, hybrid text — halfway between personal story, criticism, and sociohistorical analysis — which explores the thorny question of the roots of Algerian writers, whether here or on the other side of the Mediterranean, particularly in France, as Motifs points out.
Prefaced by historian Todd Shepard, professor at Johns Hopkins University and specialist in gender and sexuality studies, contemporary France and colonial issues, it evokes “a voice that will resonate with all those who are delighted to see the Algerian flag flying in the most unlikely places”. He salutes an author capable of superimposing literary and historical references, guided by “an intense love of Algeria” and a lucidity nourished by his relationship with France; “a powerful lens to look at the situation”, in short.

Met at the Motifs stand, Lamine Ammar-Khodja explained the approach to Le Jeune Indépendant: “I focused mainly on writers who have maintained an editorial relationship with France, therefore rather French-speaking, but that does not exclude Arabic speakers, because they are increasingly translated. “.
For the filmmaker and author, “literature is, moreover, never just an individual story. It’s always a question of pronouns.”
“The idea is to examine how writers who have maintained an editorial relationship with France struggle to fully take root, both in France and in Algeria. It is therefore a question of questioning the way in which they are perceived in the two countries, because the difficulties are not limited to a single context. Starting from the Algerian terrain, this reflection intends to broaden the framework to address the question of the roots of writers within the two societies, by focusing on the fractures that can occur, both at the individual and collective level, between the I and the we,” Lamine Ammar-khodja explained.
Baldwin echoes.

With a nervous style, a passionate tone and an analysis that digs deep, the book evokes – as Motifs points out – the ardor of the essays of James Baldwin.
Director and regular writer for the Fassl magazine, Lamine Ammar-Khodja pursues a remarkable intellectual trajectory. His portrait of the filmmaker Mohamed Zinet (Entre les flies) was published in 2024 by Motifs. His first novel is expected in 2026. With The Submerged Part of the Iceberg, he offers a compass for a rapidly changing landscape, an invitation to look differently at Algerian literature, its potential, its obstacles, and above all its future power.