Henri Kréa

Kréa, Henri 

Born Nov. 6, 1933, in Algiers. Algerian writer.

Kréa writes in French. His works in free verse have expressed the vigor of the Algerian revolution (the collection of poems The Great Day, 1956) and its nationwide significance (the collection The First Freedom, 1957) and heroism (the collection Revolution and Poetry Are One and Inseparable, 1957). In his plays he has recorded the social and moral changes in Algeria—for example, the drama Earthquake (1958) and the farce On the River Bank (the collection Alzhirskii Theater, vol. 1, 1962). The fullness of nature, which is described in his collection of poems Cedar, Pomegranate (1960), is associated in another collection, The Plot of the Peers (1964), with the creative outburst of men who are emancipating themselves. The motifs of despair and loneliness are found in his novel Damal (1961) and in Dizzying Poems (1967). Kréa has also written a historical novella, The Grave of lugurtha (1968).

WORKS

In Russian translation: [“Stikhi.”] In Poety Alzhira. Moscow, 1965.

REFERENCES

Lévi-Valensi, J., and J. E. Bencheikh. Diwan algérien. [Paris] 1967.
Khatibi, A. Le Roman maghrébin. Paris, 1968.

V. P. BALASHOV