Madah-Sartre
Madah-Sartre is a seven-act play by Alek Baylee Toumi, first published in French in 1996 and published in English in 2007. It depicts a fictional abduction by Islamists of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir in Algeria in 1993, and attempts by these Islamists to convert their captives to Islam.
| Madah-Sartre: The Kidnapping, Trial, and Conver(sat/s)ion of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Alek Baylee Toumi |
| Characters | Madah Jean-Paul Sartre Simone de Beauvoir Mullahs Psy-Mullahs Chief Chador Chadorettes Cops Taximan Hamid Lounar Chauffeur Mmi Ali Doctor Surgeon Dr. Freeman Artist Doorman Terrorist Nurses Presenter Guard Radio Announcer Radio Reporters Veronique Lamesche and Liz Miller |
| Original language | French |
| Subject | Islamists kidnap Sartre and de Beauvoir, holding them captive while trying to convert them to Islam |
| Genre | Drama |
| Setting | Algeria 1993, shortly after assassination of Tahar Djaout |
Characters
Main characters
- Jean-Paul Sartre
- Simone de Beauvoir
- Madah (Islamist, leader of a group of Islamist thugs, drives a Rolls-Royce provided by Saudis)
- Chief Chador (Madah's female counterpart)
Secondary characters
- Cab driver Hamid Lounar
- Chadorettes (Chief Chador's female entourage)
Plot
It is 1993 in Algeria and Islamists have just assassinated Tahar Djaout. Jean-Paul Sartre (died 1980) and Simone de Beauvoir (died 1986) return to earth from the afterlife to attend Djaout's funeral. While they are en route to the funeral, Islamists abduct them. The Islamists hold their intellectual guests captive and begin sessions of trying to convert Sartre and de Beauvoir to Islam.
Themes
Madah-Sartre was inspired by Peter Weiss's play Marat/Sade (1963).[1] The play includes characters who support intellectual freedom and who challenge ideas detrimental to human wellbeing with better ideas (rather than with violence). In the preface Toumi states, "In the case of the civil war in Algeria, the overwhelming majority of the assassinated people – journalists, intellectuals, school teachers, raped women – are Muslims. It means that: The victims are Muslims, while the killers, the assassins, the terrorists are Islamists... It is very important not to confuse the two and to learn to distinguish between victims and executioners. Madah-Sartre is not anti-Muslim; on the contrary, it defends Muslim victims and all Others who are victims of terrorism. That is why Madah-Sartre is, without a shadow of a doubt, antifundamentalist, antiterrorist, and anti-Islamist."
Notes
- Le Sueur 2005, p. 312.
References
- Bryson, Jennifer S. (February 17, 2009). "Sartre Debates an Islamist". The Public Discourse. Witherspoon Institute.
- Le Sueur, James D. (2002). "Ghost walking in Algiers? Why Alek Baylee Toumi resurrected Sartre and de Beauvoir". Modern & Contemporary France. 10 (4): 507–517. doi:10.1080/0963948022000029583. S2CID 220377689.
- Le Sueur, James D. (2005). Uncivil War: Intellectuals and Identity Politics During the Decolonization of Algeria. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0803280289.
- Prochaska, David (2006). "The Return of the Repressed: War, Trauma, Memory in Algeria and Beyond". In Lorcin, Patricia M. E. (ed.). Algeria and France, 1800-2000: Identity, Memory, Nostalgia. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9780815630746.
- Prochaska, David (2003). "That Was Then, This Is Now: The Battle of Algiers and After". Radical History Review. 2003 (85): 133–149. doi:10.1215/01636545-2003-85-133. S2CID 144879895.