Michèle Bošković, French professor at Eastern Connecticut State University recently published her fifth book, “Un appelé dans la guerre d’Algérie: témoignage photo-textuel” [A Conscript in the Algerian War of Independence: A Photo-Textual Testimony] by L’Harmattan, Paris.
The book is based on Bošković’s interview with her father about his service in the French Army from 1959-61. At the time France was fighting its last war of decolonization (1954-62) in Algeria. Conscripts from that era have begun to slowly open up about their experiences after being not to share their stories by the French Government.
Bošković used her father’s photo-album to create a unique and innovative book combines visual and textual elements as well as her own personal and scholarly experiences. While presenting her father’s personal story, Bošković invites us to reflect on larger issues, such as the legacy of those who have not been able to share their stories, focusing particularly on how their children can access and make sense of the memories of their parents.
“What strikes me and makes this testimony an infinitely precious document is how you captured the authenticity of your father’s words, his contradictions, and what he didn’t know then,” said Annie Ernaux, a prominent contemporary French writer, in reflecting on Bošković’s book. “It perfectly matches my own memory of those years and of the conscripts’ silence, which nobody in the [French] population wanted to break … by giving meaning to this adventure inflicted on 20 year-old boys.”
