Paula Jacques (born Paula Abadi on 8 May 1949) is a French

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

, and host of the program ''Cosmopolitaine'' on the French public station ''

France Inter France Inter () is a major French public radio channel and part of Radio France. It is a "generalist" station, aiming to provide a wide national audience with a full service of news and spoken-word programming, both serious and entertaining, li ...

''. Jacques was born in

Cairo, Egypt Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

. She and her family were expelled from Egypt in 1957 during the period of nationalization under President

Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...

. The family immigrated to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

where Jacques lived on a

kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

for three years. In 1961, Jacques and her family left Israel for France. Jacques' novels focus exclusively on the Jews of Egypt, mainly during the 1940s and 1950s. Her novels can be described as reflecting the postcolonial condition. In the novels, both Egyptian Jews and Muslims interact in day-to-day activity. In a few novels, like ''Gilda Stambouli souffre et se plaint'' (2002)and ''Un Baiser froid comme la lune'' (1983), Jacques takes her characters from Egypt to France and Israel where they face issues of

acculturation Acculturation is a process of social, psychological, and cultural change that stems from the balancing of two cultures while adapting to the prevailing culture of the society. Acculturation is a process in which an individual adopts, acquires and ...

. The characters' relationship to French language and culture is problematized and so is their relationship to Israel. Jacques's characters confront hostility, humiliation, conflicted ideologies, political instability, and cultural alienation. The novels explore the conditions under which Jews lived in Egypt in the years and days before their peremptory expulsion; the most developed cases are ''Lumière de l'oeil'', ''L'Héritage de la tante Carlotta'', ''Les Femmes avec leur amour'', and the tragic ''La Descente au paradis''. In her novels, Jacques describes the suffering and humiliation experienced by both Jews and Muslims and shows both perspectives. Alongside her novelistic production, Jacques has been involved in French theater, radio, and the press. Jacques is the winner of the

Prix Femina The Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine '' La Vie heureuse'' (today known as '' Femina''). The prize is decided each year by an exclusively female jury. They reward French-language works written ...

, 1991, for ''Deborah et les anges dissipés''.

Books

*''Lumière de l’oeil''. Paris:

Mercure de France The was originally a French gazette and literary magazine first published in the 17th century, but after several incarnations has evolved as a publisher, and is now part of the Éditions Gallimard publishing group. The gazette was published f ...

, 1980. English translation: ''Light of my Eye''. Teaneck NJ: Holmes & Meier, 2009. *''Un Baiser froid comme la lune''. Paris: Mercure de France, 1983. *''L’Héritage de Tante Carlotta''. Paris: Mercure de France, 1987. *''Déborah et les anges dissipés''. Paris: Mercure de France, 1991. (Winner of the Prix Femina) *''La Descente au paradis''. Paris: Mercure de France, 1995. *''Les Femmes avec leur amour''. Paris: Mercure de France, 1997. *''Gilda Stambouli souffre et se plaint''. Paris: Mercure de France,2002. *''Rachel-Rose et l’officier arabe''. Paris: Mercure de France, 2006. *''Kayro Jacobi: Juste avant l'oubli'': Mercure de France, 2010. *''Au Moins il ne pleut pa''s: Stock, 2015. *Children's story: Samia la rebelle.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacques, Paula Living people 1949 births Writers from Cairo French women novelists Prix Femina winners Radio France people French people of Egyptian-Jewish descent