Djaout, Tahar (1954-93). Algerian novelist. In L'Exproprié (1984), Les Chercheurs d'os (1984), L'Invention du désert (1987), and Les Vigiles (1991) he describes the difficulties of daily life in post-Independence Algeria, warning against bureaucracy, despotism, and religious fanaticism. Assassinated by an unknown assailant, he was the first in a series of Algerian intellectuals murdered in terrorist attacks attributed variously to Islamist insurgents and state-backed death squads.
[Alec Hargreaves]




