This monograph (translated from French) is the first attempt to reconcile Camus’s deep-seated identity as an Algerian and his ideas of a multiconfessional, multicultural, non-colonial Algeria. The authors discuss the identity of Camus, his philosophy and politics, including his sexual politics, in light of a southern Mediterranean cultural nexus that stamped Camus as an Algerian rather than French (pied-noir). Camus’s cosmopolitan and radical Algiers of the 30’s is described vibrantly reflecting his extraordinary understanding of the people and landscape that evolved from his journalism.

This monograph is an important contribution to the study of lexical acquisition and the larger question of developing a standard Arabic as a second language through literacy. Since large numbers of individuals learn Arabic for religious as well as economic reasons in Africa , Central Asia and East Asia this topic has implications far beyond its focused discussion of semantic and formal properties in the process of analyzing Arabic words into patterns and underlying roots.