In December 2008, I attended the First International Symposium of Translators of Arabic Literature, which was held in the capital of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria by the Ministry of Culture of that country. There, during one of the breaks between meetings, I met two colleagues-lecturers. Having learned that I had once participated in the translation of one of the novels of the famous Algerian Arabic-language writer and public figure 'Abd al-Hamid Ben Haddougi (1925-1996) into Russian, my new friends invited me to come to the annual international symposium, the next session of which was planned to be held in December next year, i.e. 2009.

As usual, I forgot to think about this conversation, but in November 2009, I did not know what to do. An invitation was sent to me through the Algerian Embassy in Moscow on behalf of the administration of the Algerian Wilaya² Burj Bou 'Arririj to participate in the same symposium. I began to work on a report in which I was going to tell my Algerian colleagues about the decision of the Raduga publishing house and the Foreign Commission of the USSR Writers ' Union to publish a collection of the Algerian writer [Benhedouga, 1987], what works were included in it, and, most importantly and most interesting of all, about the fate of the people-editors, translators and the author of the preface-thanks to whose efforts the book was published. After all, all this is part of the recent history of our Arabic studies, the history of Russia's inter-literary and inter-cultural relations not only with Algeria, but also with other Arab countries. ³

I am ashamed to say that when I was preparing for my trip in Moscow, I knew absolutely nothing about the places I was going to visit. The information presented in this article was obtained by me later - from books written by local historians from that wilaya and kindly presented to me by my new Algerian friends [Vashan, 2007; Mukhtari, B. G. (1); Mukhtari, B. G.(2); Dalil al-bayan..., 2007; Burj: Bu ' Arriridge:..., b. g.].

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE BURJ BU 'ARRIRIDGE WILAYA

So, Wilaya Burj Bu ' Arririj, located in the east of the country, is a new administrative unit of this rank - it was formed in 1984.

* I would like to express my deep gratitude to my senior colleague, Professor R. G. Landes, a leading Russian expert in Algeria, who kindly agreed to read the manuscript of this article and made a number of valuable comments.

¹ In the text of the article, the author adheres to the academic principles of transliteration of proper names, geographical names and Arabic realities mentioned in it.

^Wilaya2 is an administrative division in present-day Algeria. The division into wilayas was introduced in the late 1960s, replacing the division that existed under the colonialists into three departments-Algeria, Oran, and Constantina.

³ This story also includes information gathered by the author during his second trip to Burj Bou ' Arriridge on December 15-20, 2010, which will be highlighted in the footnotes.

5*

The history of Burj Bou ' Arririj is inextricably linked to the history of all of Algeria. On its territory, the sites of the oldest man were discovered. Much later, in historical times, the ancestors of modern Berbers, the Libyans, lived here. In the first century BC, part of the territory of the future Burj Bu ' Arriridge became part of the Roman Empire. In the V-VI centuries, these lands were owned by vandals4, who were replaced by the Byzantines.

At the end of the seventh century, the lands of the future Wilaya were conquered by Muslim Arabs (under the Umayyad Caliph ' Abd al-Malik b. Marwan (685-705)). Later, under the last Umayyad caliphs and Abbasids, the territory of Burj Bu ' Arririj, as well as the entire Middle al-Maghrib, was ruled by governors appointed from the center of the Caliphate. Since the 60s of the seventh century, these lands were part of various local states of the Rustamids (776-909) [Al-Jilali, 1980, p. 165-178], Aghlabids (800-909) [Aghlabids; 'Abd al-Wahhab, 1976, p. 77-93], Fatimids (early X century-early XI century) ⁵, Hammadids (1007-1152)⁶. In the late 1060s, these lands were ravaged by the Arab tribes of Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym⁷ as a result of which their economy and culture suffered significant damage. A part of the newly arrived Arab population settled here, which to a certain extent imposed its language and culture on the original inhabitants of these places - the Berbers. Subsequently, the territory of Burj Bu ' Arririj was part of the Almohad state (1130-1269)^.8 After its fall, the lands of the future Wilaya were for a long time the subject of confrontation between the Ziyanid state (Banu Ziyan) (1235-1543)⁹ and the Hafsids (1230-1534)¹⁰. At the beginning of the XVI century, an independent emirate of Qal'at Bani 'Abbas was formed here, headed by the al-Muqrani dynasty. This state was never subjugated by the Ottoman Turks, who ruled Algeria from the 16th century to the 1930s. In 1838, its territory was conquered by French colonialists. Local historians who have written the history of Burj Bu ' Arriridge are proud of the fact that their countrymen fought fiercely against French rule. The biggest event of the national liberation struggle of the Algerians, the arena of which was the territory of the future Wilaya, was the famous anti-colonial uprising of al-Mukrani (1871-1872).

^Vandals 4-an East Germanic tribe. One of their branches, the Hasdingi, conquered Roman North Africa in the first half of the fifth century and formed a kingdom there, which became the first German state on the territory of the Roman Empire. In 533-534, the Byzantine general Plisarius conquered the Vandal Kingdom and annexed North Africa to the Byzantine Empire (Vandals, 1989, p. 92).

⁵ The Fatimids (al-Fatimiyyun) were a dynasty of Shiite (Ismaili) caliphs that ruled in the X-XN centuries. At the end of the tenth century. The Fatimid caliphate controlled al-Maghreb, Egypt, Palestine, and parts of Syria. At the end of the Xie dynasty, power extended to Egypt and Syria (Bolshakov, 1991: 253-254).

⁶ For the Hammadid State (Banu Hammad), see Idris, 1966, pp. 137-139.

^{Banu Hilal} 7 and Banu Sulaym are two related North Arab tribes that originally lived in al-Hijaz. In the eighth century, a number of closely related groups of both tribes migrated to Egypt. In the middle of the XI century, according to historical legend, at the instigation of the Fatimid Wazir al-Jazuri, Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym made a devastating invasion of North Africa, where by that time the Zirid state had been separated from the Fatimid Caliphate. It is believed that most of the Arabs now living in North Africa are descended from Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym (see Idris H. R. Hilal).

⁸ Almohads (al-Muwahhidun) (1130-1269) - a common name in Western and Russian literature for the dynasty that came to power as a result of the movement of part of the Berber tribes of North Africa, inspired by the ideas of strict monotheism (tawhid). The followers and leaders of this movement, who formed the Caliph dynasty, became known as al-muwahhidun (monotheists). In Spanish, this name turned into almohades, which is why the name Almohada comes from. At its height, the Almohad state included all of North Africa and Southern (Muslim) Spain [Shatzmillcr].

⁹ The Ziyanids (Zayanids) were a Berber dynasty with its capital in Tlaxcna (a city in northwestern modern Algeria, near the border with Morocco). In the 13th and 16th centuries, the rulers of this dynasty ruled most of the Middle Al-Maghreb (modern Algeria) [Bel, 1936, pp. 1321-1322].

¹⁰ The Hafsids were a Berber dynasty that ruled from 1229-1574. Eastern Berberis (modern Tunisia and surrounding areas). The ancestor and eponym of the dynasty is one of the most prominent companions of the founder of the Almohad dynasty Ibn Tumart (c. 1080-1130) - Abu Hafs ' Omar b. Yahya al-Hintati. In 1229, Abu Hafsa's grandson Abu 'Abdallah b.' Abd al-Wahid declared himself independent ruler of Ifriqiya (Tunisia). During the reign of the Hafsids, the formation of Tunisian culture itself falls. In 1574, the declining Hafsid state was annexed to the Ottoman possessions in North Africa (Idris, 1965, pp. 68-72).

The freedom-loving character of the Burj Bou 'Arririj population was fully revealed during the Liberation War (1954-1962), which resulted in the birth of modern independent Algeria.

This is an interesting part of the Algerian state that the author of these lines happened to visit.

WHAT I SAW AND HEARD IN BURJ BOO ' ARRIRIDGE

The City of Bou'arriridge and its counties

Arriving in the Algerian capital on December 8, 2009, at about five o'clock in the evening local time, I was safely met by representatives of the Burj Bou 'Arririj Wilaya administration, and we immediately set off by car in a south-easterly direction - to reach the administrative center of this province, the city of Burj Bou' Arririj, it was necessary to travel about 300 km, - for Algeria, this distance is considerable.

Initially, we moved through the suburbs of Algiers, overcoming the road densely packed with cars. There were private houses on either side of the road, and beyond them were green fields. As we drove away from the Algerian capital, green hills interspersed with flat places covered with red sand stretched out. It was getting dark. To take a break, our driver stopped at a certain shopping complex, which included a cafe arranged in the traditional Algerian way, and several shops. I got out of the car to look around and took two or three pictures. When I got back to the car, I saw a middle-aged man. I greeted him, and he immediately left. The escort explained that the man was alarmed by my behavior, but when he learned that I was an official guest of the Burj Bu 'Arriridge administration, he immediately calmed down. Apparently, it was an employee of the local branch of the special services, who was responsible for keeping order in this area. The situation in Algeria is still tense, and a foreigner with a camera causes caution.

Moving on, we hit a great highway. On the approach to the borders of the Burj Bu 'Arririj Wilaya, the road again became narrow and heavily congested with cars. When passing through one of the settlements, the accompanying person, a representative of the wilaya administration, said that the local residents are great masters of cooking meat on a spit. The abundance of cafes and the delicious smell confirmed the correctness of his words.

And here we are in the city of Burj. In the dark, it made an extremely favorable impression on me - clean, straight paved streets, two - and three-story houses, brick, on a reinforced concrete base.¹¹

I was told that we were going to have dinner at the Tassili restaurant. This name is very symptomatic - this is the name of the plateau (actually, Tassilin-Adger) in the south-eastern part of Algeria, where there are numerous rock carvings made by prehistoric people (see: [Le Petit Fute..., 2005, p. 368-376]). The restaurant was very spacious, and the walls were decorated with traditional Algerian ornaments. Dinner, which was served to the conference participants, consisted of rich mutton meat.

¹¹ On my next visit to Algeria, on December 15, 2010, when I arrived in the capital, due to a misunderstanding, I was not met at the airport. The conference was held in the same premises as the previous one. I took a taxi to Burj Boo ' Arriridge. After the town of Sniyya, we turned onto a side road. We passed a number of small settlements, including Shu'bat 'Amir and Dra' (Zira') Mizan. I was struck by the high quality of the highway and the quality of brick houses with reinforced concrete frames, as well as the abundance of shops and cafes. The signs are exclusively in French. According to my driver, Mr. ' Amiri, most of the residents there work in the service sector or are in the civil service; only a few are employed in agriculture. Young people tend to go either to other cities in Algeria, where extensive construction is underway, or to France.

soup and a large piece of beef with gravy. Approximately the same dishes were served at other dinners. For lunch, the menu was similar, but with a salad added to the dishes.

As expected, the conference participants had conversations during the meal, which I listened to carefully and sometimes took part in myself. I remember one of these table conversations. Several people took part in it, including an old friend of mine, the writer Jillali Hallas, who visited the Soviet Union many times and is a big fan of Russian literature and culture in general. The following topics were raised: the source of all religions is the Old Testament ten commandments, which even devil worshippers adhere to (Yazidi Kurds and followers of Satanic cults in India (?)); in ancient times, even idolaters did not teach their children to kill, steal and commit adultery; the modern so-called devil church was created by the United States to undermine morality around the world, and it has nothing to do with the ancient cults of the evil spirit; only Buddhism, among other religious systems, differs significantly from the "heavenly" religions.

After dinner, I was taken to a hotel with a name that also reflects the local flavor - " at-Targi "("Tuareg"). The interiors were decorated with numerous paintings and panels depicting scenes from Berber and Arab Bedouin life. Ceramic panels with traditional ornaments decorated the walls along the stairs leading from floor to floor. My room was extremely large, with a Qibla sign on the floor and a prayer mat in the nightstand under the TV.

During my stay in Burj Bou ' Arriridge, I managed to get a fairly detailed look at this city. It turned out that during the day it looks no worse than at dusk. Recent buildings predominate. In some places, houses from the colonial period have been preserved. There are entire neighborhoods built in the first years of independence.

My old friends, the writer Jillali Hallas and the journalist 'Abd al -' Aziz Bou Baqir, explained to me that Burj Bou ' Arriridge is a very young city. Just recently, there was a village here. A local - born journalist, Mr. Ahmad, confirmed the same thing to me: in the late 1970s, there was no high school in Burj Bu 'Arririj; therefore, he himself had to take the bus every day to study at Setif ¹². A secondary school was established in Burj only in the early 1980s, when Mr. Ahmad was already a high school student.

They also showed me the main attraction of the city - al-Muqrani Castle, at the gate of which there is a monument to the leader of the famous anti-French uprising, Muhammad al-Muqrani. Until recently, it was impossible to inspect the castle, as it was under the jurisdiction of the Algerian Ministry of Defense. Restoration work is currently underway here. From the walls of the fortress, you can enjoy beautiful views of the city and the surrounding area. Among other castle buildings, I was shown a certain room that was used as a torture chamber by the French during the war of liberation.

Being a big fan of radio programs, especially Arabic ones, I enjoyed listening to Algerian radio, both central and local. During my stay in Burj Bou 'Arriridge, radio covered the following most pressing topics: the approaching anniversary of the demonstrations that took place in Algiers on December ¹¹, 196013; the problem of "swine flu"; the visit of the Algerian Foreign Minister to the United States and negotiations with Secretary of State X. Clinton; participation of the Algerian delegation in the Copenhagen Environmental Congress; violation of human rights in Western Sahara; ensuring the protection of human rights in Algeria; fighting corruption in Algeria; social development, construction of affordable housing.

¹² Sstif is a wilaya in northeastern Algeria. Its administrative center is the city of Sstif (Satif), founded by the Romans. During the colonial era, European neighborhoods of significant historical and architectural interest were built there [Le Petit Fute..., 2005, p. 215-217].

¹³ Mass demonstrations on December 11, 1960 in Algiers began due to the statement of the then President of France, General Sh. DS Gaulle on granting Algeria independence "associated" with France (oral information by Professor R. G. Landa).

I left on December 11. The organizers of the conference ordered me a return ticket not from the capital, but from the city of Setif. Mr. Huwayri Farooq, Director of the Cultural Department of the Burj Bu 'Arririj Wilaya Administration, volunteered to take me to the airport and show me his native Setif. We set out very early, still dark, and in a thick fog. I sincerely praised the quality of the roads in Burj Bu ' Arririj and in Setif Wilaya. In response, Mr. Farook said that the state spares no expense in developing the road network throughout the country. Much is also being done for housing construction, especially in rural areas. Anyone who wants to build a village house has the right to receive a grant of 70 million Algerian dinars free of charge. In addition, you can get a loan from the bank at 1% per annum.

Here we are approaching Setif. We passed the newly built neighborhoods, the object of my interlocutor's pride. We entered the old French colonial part of the city. The excellent condition of the buildings caught my eye. My companion showed me a theater building with an eclectic clock, as well as a French indoor market and several cafes. Then we were in the new development blocks. This is housing for ordinary people, my companion explained. Currently, he continued, there are two universities operating in Setif and a third one is being built.

At parting, my gracious host, pleased that I had enjoyed both Burj Bou ' Arriridge and Setif, made me promise to attend a similar conference next year without fail.

When I went through passport control, one of the border guards took me for a Syrian (I speak Arabic, but I don't look like a North African). An elderly Algerian man and his wife, seeing that I had an abundance of hand luggage in my hands (my Algerian colleagues presented me with a great many books), helped me manage my luggage and passport. In the waiting room, I looked at my companions. Most of the passengers were elderly married couples-men in long coats and fur pie hats, and women in coats with fur collars and headscarves. Apparently, they were going to visit children living and working in Paris. I noticed three girls, probably high school girls. They were accompanied by elderly couples, most likely grandparents. Girls wore the same clothes as adult women. One of them, a middle-aged lady, was dressed in a traditional Algerian outfit with shawls and large, colorful ornaments.

When I was waiting in line to leave the airport lounge, I witnessed the following scene: airline employees asked several elderly Algerians to show their passports, using the French word passport. The others didn't understand what was being asked of them. Young people were laughing and whispering to each other about this. Seeing this, I wondered: what is the word for a passport that older Algerians know? It is unlikely that they know the Arabic equivalent of Javaz Safar - they belong to the older generation, grew up under the dominance of the French language. Or are they such simple people that they can't even write or read, and they hold their passports in their hands for the first time in their lives?

The airport attendant who checked my hand luggage was very surprised to see Arabic books among my belongings - a Russian citizen, and suddenly reads Arabic! In general, at Algerian airports, I tried to speak French, so as not to attract too much attention to myself.

So I flew from Setif to Paris, where I boarded a Moscow plane and got to ¹⁴.

¹⁴ On the morning of December 17, 2010, my journey from Burj Bou 'Arririj to the Algerian capital took me through the al-Biban Mountains. My companions showed me the Bab al-Hadid Mountain Pass (Iron Gate), through which the highway is now laid. Before, it was difficult to pass. That is why, according to local residents, the French could not take possession of those lands for seven years. For the next three days, I enjoyed the hospitality of the J. Hallas family, whose home is located in the town of Bi'r Tutu, west of Algiers.

AT THE CONFERENCE

The main event around which my stay in Burj Bu 'Arriridge focused was the traditional scientific forum dedicated to the study of the creativity of 'A'. Ben Haddougi (1925-1996) and various problems of modern Algerian and, more generally, Arabic literature. The writer was born in the village of al-Hamra', located in the wilaya Burj Bu ' Arririj. Therefore, for so many local residents, 'A Ben Haddouga is a famous countryman and a source of pride. Since 2000, the Department of Culture of the local administration, under the leadership of the Ministry of Culture of Algeria, began to hold a festival in honor of 'A'. Ben Haddugi meetings of writers and researchers. Literary critics from other Arab countries, as well as European Arabists, often take part in such events. I became the first guest from Russia. The conference also includes a celebration of a contemporary Algerian writer. A special session is dedicated to his work. At that time, the" hero " of the forum was the novelist Muhammad Miflah (born 1953).

The conference was held on the territory of a complex of administrative buildings, where participants were brought by bus. The main element of this complex is a large building built in the shape of a cylinder, where employees ' offices and other premises are located. Since this building bears a clear imprint of the architectural principles of constructivism, I assumed that it was built in the colonial period, in the 1920s. However, it turned out that the administrative building was built only fifteen years ago. The meetings were held in a separate assembly hall located in the courtyard of the administrative complex. The conference was held in the usual way-morning session before lunch and afternoon, from about three to six.

My message, which was one of the first to be listened to, aroused great interest. The conference participants, among whom were many students of the local university center, were struck by the fact that in modern Russia there is no state support for translations of works of modern Arabic literature and their publication, and that the wonderful Soviet translation school, including the Arabic school, has practically already degenerated. Nevertheless, both the author of these lines and his Algerian colleagues expressed the hope that the Russian translation heritage of the Soviet era will not be lost in vain, that the accumulated experience will, despite all the difficulties, be in demand by a new generation of Arabists. Our Algerian colleagues were also concerned about the fate of Arabic education in Russia, which they consider to be the strongest in the world.

The warm welcome you gave me shows the highest authority of our Oriental studies - the authority of Russian culture in general, both imperial and Soviet times, is very high among our Algerian colleagues.

Thus, speaking at a meeting dedicated to him, M. Miflakh said, describing the current state of Algerian literature, that "it still has not come out of Gogol's "Overcoat"". The reinterpreted quote was very clear to the audience. A colleague I shared a table with during our first dinner at the Tassili restaurant said that Algerian writers, among whom he included himself, learned to understand the human soul from such classics of Russian literature as Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Chekhov.

A teacher of Arabic literature from al-Msila (he is about 45 years old) assured me that even many ordinary Algerians know the work of Nikolai Gogol. His novel "Taras Bulba"is particularly popular in Algeria. In the wilaya Burj Bu ' Arririj, the name of the main character of this work is sometimes called a strong man or a daredevil. During the Liberation War, this nickname was worn by several particularly brave partisans. A friend of my informant named his newborn son Taras Bulba. Apparently, this Gogol character is so important.

he is close to the Algerians, because he fought with Catholic Poles, and the enemies of the Algerians were precisely Catholics - first the Spaniards and Portuguese, and then the French.

This man's fellow countryman, a young teacher of the fundamentals of literary criticism, Wahiba Darbali, told me that, according to her observation, at present most serious Algerian literary critics adhere to the principles of socialist realism. Her friend from Constantina, also a literature teacher, Shafika Lwasif (al-Wasif), turned out to be an ardent fan of Chekhov's short stories. She asked me to send her a volume of Chekhov's short stories in Arabic or French translation. Unfortunately, I was unable to comply with this request, as the works of Russian classics translated into Arabic, which were once published in large print runs by the Progress publishing house, are currently not available on Moscow book markets.¹⁵

As you can see, the most valuable information I learned from this conference was obtained in backstage conversations with my Algerian colleagues. So I will allow myself to group the collected "field materials" by topic and retell them in these essays.

THE PROBLEM OF ETHNICITY

For a country with such a rich ethnic history as Algeria, the issue of ethnicity is still of great importance. The population of the Burj Bu 'Arririj Wilaya is quite diverse in origin and ethnic composition, as noted in his study by local historian M. Vashan. He also claimed, in particular, that genetically very different groups of the Wilaya population still remember their origins. So, in the south-eastern part of it, in the mountainous area near the city of Burj al-Ghadir, a significant group called al-ma'adid lives compactly. These people consider themselves descendants of one of the divisions (batn) of Banu hilal - ' iyad. The mountains there were first called the mountains of 'Iyad, and then Mi'dad (this is the name they bear to this day). A little further north are the descendants of other divisions of Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym-Duraid, karfa, aulad difal, Aulad tabban, aulad sarh, Aulad drachma, etc. [Vashan, 2007, p. 88]. Among the townspeople of the Burj Bu 'Arririj Wilaya, there are descendants of Bijay people who fled from there to the Emirate of al-Qal'a after the capture of their hometown by the Spaniards. Many families even have documents confirming their Bijay origin [ibid., p. 106]¹⁶. In the town of Majana (north-east of Burj Bu ' Arririj) live descendants of the al-Hashm tribe (whose origin I could not find out; most likely it is Berber). Their ancestors entered the service of the emirate's sovereign al-Qal'a 'Abd al-'Aziz at the beginning of the 16th century and played a decisive role in liberating Bijaya from Spanish rule [ibid., p. 110]. In the north-east of the Wilaya, in the town of Burj Zamura, there are families descended from the Turks, soldiers of the local garrison. Members of these families have surnames of Turkish origin-Baranji, Salakji, Bufji, Kara, Khaznaji. One of the local citizens told M. Vashan that he belongs to an old Turkish family, still corresponds with relatives living in Turkey, annually goes there to visit and receives Turkish relatives at home. Farmers, descendants of the Turks, live in

¹⁵ In this regard, I will say that I later learned from a professor in Saudi Arabia that these translations can be found on the Internet. He himself downloaded and printed many works of Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and Chekhov in Arabic, as well as the works of many Russian philosophers(!), gave them to bind and now enjoys them at home. So, I note that the huge cultural and educational work carried out in the Soviet era to familiarize readers of the Arab world and other Eastern countries with the core works of Russian culture has not disappeared without a trace, but continues to bear abundant fruit to this day.

¹⁶ Professor R. G. Landa believes that in fact the descendants of the Bijay people have Andalusian roots.

under the town of Bi'r Qasid 'Ali (it is located 30 km east of Burj Bu' Arririj) [ibid., pp. 131-132].

According to the writer J. R. R. Tolkien, Hallas and the journalist 'A. Bu Baqira, wilaya Burj Bu ' Arririj does not belong to Kabyliya, which is located to the north. The majority of the local population is not Berbers, but Arabs ¹⁷.

Due to this acute ethnic problem, many colleagues at the Burj Bou 'Arriridge conference, and even casual interlocutors, were willing to share their thoughts about their ethnicity with me. Thus, an official of the local administration, Mr. Farouk, who met me at the Algerian airport, a native of Bijaya, told me that he was a Mzabit¹⁸. We, my informant said, are the oldest population of Algeria. The ancestors of the Mzabites, he believes, came 25 thousand years ago to the territory of Algeria from what is now Sakiya al-Hamra' (Western Sahara). The tribe to which he belongs occupies, according to him, all of Bijaya and all of Tizi Uza. ¹⁹ His family members mostly speak Arabic, but at home they sometimes use the Mzabit language.

My old acquaintances are J. Hallas and 'A'. The Bu Bakir take a different view on the origin of the Mzabites: according to them, they are descendants of the Rustamids.²⁰ In a conversation with me, these two informants emphasized that the Mzabites are the only Ibadites in Algeria, and that their capital, Gardaya, is a closed city where outsiders are not allowed.²¹

Basically, the writer's countryman 'A' considers himself and his relatives to be Berbers. Ben Haddougi, a native of the village of al-Hamra', which is located on the territory of the wilaya Burj Bu ' Arriridge, professor at the University center in Burj Bu 'Arriridge 'Abdallah Ben Green (Karin). From his point of view, the Berber ethnicity of his family is primarily indicated by the traditional dress - burnous and the traditional dish - couscous, which the Arabs themselves do not have. The main tribal groups of the Berbers, noted 'A'. Ben Green is sanhaja, zenata (zanata) and hammuda. The latter lived in the Hammuda Mountains, located near the town of Burj Bu ' Arririj. When the Banu Hilal came to those places, they defeated Hammuda and subdued them. After that, it was the Hammudas who were considered Arabs. The Banu Hilal are the only true Arabs in the entire Maghreb. Before their invasion of

^{R. G. Landa, on the} contrary, strongly believes that historically Burj Bu ' Arririj is Kabylia. The position of my interlocutors is explained, in his view, by the characteristic tendency of Algerian Arabs to downplay the importance of everything Berber. This trend dates back to the era of the Banu Hilal invasion.

^{The Mzabites} 18 (Mozabites) are an ethnic group of the indigenous population of Algeria, close to the Berbers. The main part of the Mzabites inhabit the Gardaya oasis and adjacent territories located in the Sahara south of Algeria, where they are engaged in irrigation farming. Outside the region of their historical settlement, in seaside towns, Mzabits have long been engaged in usury and trade, and maintain traditional baths. Many of them most often migrate there temporarily, and then, having saved up money, return to their native places. Traditionally, they adhere to the Ibadite faith [Bsrnar, 1949, p. 90, 98, 328, 334, 364; Peoples of Africa, 1954, p. 150].

¹⁹ Tizi-Ouzu Wilaya, the administrative center of which is the ancient Kabyle city of the same name. It is located on the Mediterranean coast, east of Algiers. In the south, the territory of Tizi Ouzou is adjacent to the territory of Burj Bou ' Arriridge [Le Petit Fute..., 2005, p. 205-210|. The information received from this informant of mine contradicts the data on the traditional compact settlement of Mzabits. However, Professor R. G. Landa suggested that he was referring not to the Mzabites themselves, but to the Berbers in general.

²⁰ Indeed, according to historical facts, the remaining supporters of the Rustamid dynasty that died in 909 fled to the Sahara, where some of them settled in Mzab. In fact, the companions of the Rustamids contributed to the spread of one of the trends of Kharijism among the Mzabis - Ibadism (Al-Jilali, 1980, pp. 176-177).

²¹ For the current state of Mzab and Gardai, see [Le Petite Fute..., 2005, p. 317-330]. A fairly detailed description of Mzab and Gardai in a modern French guidebook shows that the opinion of my interlocutors about this region of Algeria is based not on personal impressions, but on a traditional stereotype.

There were very few Arabs in North Africa. Even the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula in the early eighth century was carried out by the Berbers. After all, the leader of the Muslim army that invaded al-Andalus, Tariq b. Ziyad, ²² was a Berber, as were his soldiers. Among them, only the imams who led the prayer in various units of the army were Arabs.

Approximately the same point of view on the ethnic character of indigenous people is shared by the employee of the newspaper "al-Akhbar" Mr. Ahmad. "We are all Berbers," he told me. "But they also became Arabs because of their conversion to Islam." Among Mr. Ahmad's relatives, it is customary to speak both Arabic and Berber at home; older people prefer Berber.

The above-mentioned Arabic literature teacher from al-Msila (a native of Burj Bu ' Arririj) was less categorical in terms of ethnic identity: "It's hard to say whether we are Arabs or Berbers. Our family is considered Arab. However, my maternal grandmother is Berber, and my paternal grandmother is Arab. What really matters is that I'm an Algerian. " ²³

FAMILY-RELATED (CLAN)RELATIONSHIPS relationships

The vividness of this kind of relationship in Burj Bu 'Arririj is confirmed by a number of passages in M. Vashan's book. First of all, his own pedigree, given on the last page of the cover [Vashan, 2007], indicates that the local historian belongs to a certain patronymic belonging to the Berber Sanhaja tribal group and living in the village of Bunda al-Kabira, in the Ja'afra district in the north of the Wilaya. A family-related group considered to be the descendants of a major faqih of the Hammadid state era, Abu Hafs ²⁴, still lives in the vicinity of the town of Burj Zamura. The most famous of the descendants of Abu Hafs is Sheikh ' Omar Abu Hafs (1913-1990), who was an expert in Maliki Fiqh. Its majlises (academic meetings) were attended by M. Vashan. Descendants of Muhammad al-Muqrani still live on the territory of Burj Bou ' Arririj and in other parts of Algeria, forming, most likely, one or several patronymics (Vashan, 2007, pp. 80-81, 169).

Interesting information about patronymic relations was obtained from a fellow countryman 'A. Ben Haddugi - ' A. Ben Green. In their village of al-Hamra 'live two' ashirs (in Algeria - 'tir).' A. Ben Haddouga belonged to one of them, and my interlocutor-to the other. Exchange marriages have been performed between these ' ashras from time immemorial.

²² Tariq b. Ziyad (VIII century) - Arab-Muslim military leader of Berber origin. In 711, he began the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. He was a maula (client, dependent person) of Musa b. Nusayr [Molina].

²³ Professor-folklorist 'A. Burayu, he says, comes from the Berber Kutama tribal group of the Bani ' Umran tribe (the original Berber tribal and clan names have been Arabized). Kutama is one of the largest divisions of the Berber people. At the time of the Arab-Muslim conquests, it occupied the territory between the city of Constantine and the Auras Mountains, as well as the present-day Lesser Kabylia. Fatimid state was formed with the support of Kutama. The descendants of Kutam are the current Zuwawa Berbers [Basse]. Grandfather ' A. Burayu owned land and bred horses near Constantina. When the repressions began after the uprising of al-Mukrani, my grandfather, abandoning all his property, fled to Tunisia with his children and household. There, not far from the Algerian border, a council of Algerian tribal sheikhs was formed, which took care of the migrants. Relatives of ' A. Burayu was once again under French rule when Tunis became a French protectorate. Subsequently, the family actively supported X. Bourguiba, and then-the FLN. The family returned to Algeria in 1962, when 'A Buray was 12 years old. In his opinion, among the Bedouin Arabs and the sedentary population who are their descendants, there is still a strong attachment to horses and horse riding. Bedouins and recent descendants of nomads are indispensable participants in equestrian competitions that are held in small towns. According to the mayor of one of these localities, participants provide their own horses with forage and incur other significant expenses-just to be able to participate in the competition (information received on December 17, 2010).

²⁴ Apparently, Abu Hafs is the family name of this family.

Mr. Ahmad, an employee of the al-Akhbar newspaper, is also well aware of his family ties. His ' ashr comes from a village on the southern border of the Wilaya. Currently, many relatives live in Burj Bu ' Arriridge. They live dispersed, as in cities with modern buildings, the quarterly settlement of relatives has practically not been preserved. Mr. Ahmad's wife comes from the same family group, but they met at the University of Constantina, where they studied together. Mr. Ahmad's wife must have been born in the original place of residence of ' ashra.

The teacher of the theory of literary criticism, V. Darbali, turned out to be a member of the Ashraf class, descended from the Prophet Muhammad and belonging to the Ashraf (Sharif) class. Her relatives traditionally taught Fiqh, theology, and grammar. The interlocutor showed me photos of the sights of al-Msila.

One of the conference participants, a freelance filmmaker (as he introduced himself), Mahmoud Jiddiyat, was making a presentation on a documentary he had dedicated to 'A'. Ben Haddouge. M. Djiddiyat is also an author of popular science books, in particular, he wrote a biography of St. Augustine (this saint was born in the territory of present-day Algeria and is considered one of the forerunners of modern Algerian culture).²⁵. He wrote the biography in French and then translated it into English himself. M. Jiddiyat asked me to arrange a translation of his work into Russian, and promised financial assistance from the Vatican and, if published in Russia, European fame.

M. Jiddiyat gave me extremely interesting information about the patronymic to which he belongs. He hails from Wilaya ' Annaba (in north-eastern Algeria, right on the Tunisian border). [Le Petit Fute..., 2005, p. 281-292]²⁶. M. Jiddiyyat's native village is Shamiyyat. His Ashr, also called jiddiyat, is very numerous. Members of this patronymic live in a number of localities located along the Mediterranean coast. Their traditional occupations are agriculture and cattle breeding. M. Jiddiyat's closest relatives (probably members of his extended family) have long been professional military personnel. The jiddiyyat patronymic is dominated by kinship marriages, but there are exceptions: one of my informant's relatives married a Russian woman, a Soviet serviceman. The Russian wife, now an elderly matron, mother and grandmother, is universally respected.

The ancestor of 'ashra jiddiyat is considered to be a certain Turk, who may have arrived in Algeria for military service during the time of Khair ad-din Barbarossa. The mausoleum of the first ancestor is located in the village of Sidi Yahya and is regularly visited by relatives.

Here is more information about the family ties of Tunisian professor, Dr. Bouchoura Ben Jamaa'a, because it is very indicative of the ethno-cultural situation in North Africa. This colleague of mine teaches at the University of Tunis, where he studies the North African Arabic-language novel. He hails from the Tunisian seaside town of Bizerte. The family is of Andalusian origin. Malaya

²⁵ The Algerian historian 'A. al-Jilali ranks Augustine among the famous Algerians (see [al-Jilali, pp. 91-92]). On St. Augustine (354-430), see [Augustine, 1989, p. 9]. J. Hallas believes that Augustine was a Berber (information received on December 19, 2010).

²⁶ Interestingly, three kilometers southeast of the center of Annaba are the ruins of the Roman city of Hippo, where St. Augustine served as bishop. Somewhat closer to the center of Annaba is the Basilica of St. Augustine, built in 1881. The great thinker and ecclesiastical figure himself was born in the Roman city of Taghasts (modern Suk Ahras), a small town in the Gslma wilaya bordering the 'Annaba Wilaya from the south [Le Petit Fute..., 2005, p. 284-285]. So for M. Djiddiyat, Augustine is not only an iconic figure, as for all Algerians, but, perhaps, first of all, a fellow countryman.

homeland-the village of al-Maltin, where the family has long owned a small plot of agricultural land; there is also a family cemetery. The professor is married, as is customary in their family-related group, to a relative-a cousin (or second cousin).

Professor Jama'a believes that immigrants from al-Andalus had a significant impact on the cultural appearance of the coastal cities of al-Maghreb. So, he finds that the old quarters of his native Bizerte with their streets, houses and minarets - this is the real Muslim Spain. Cal is 30 km from Bizerte'at al-Andalus, founded by refugees from the Iberian Peninsula. The old houses, bridges and fountains there are built in the Andalusian style ²⁷.

REGIONAL IDENTITY

In many countries of the world, there are historical areas where the population has a sense of community, expressed in the form of local patriotism. This feature is also characteristic of most modern Arab countries, in particular Algeria. During my trip to the Burj Bou 'Arririj conference, I met a typical bearer of this self-awareness, though not from among the inhabitants of this wilaya, but from the historical area of Setif and its ancestral center. It turned out to be Mr. Huwayri Farooq, Director of the Burj Bu 'Arririj Administration's Department of Culture, who accompanied me to the airport. A native of the city of Setif, he graduated from the Faculty of Journalism at the university there, and studied under a graduate of Leningrad State University, an old friend of mine, 'Abd al -' Aziz Bu Bakir. After that, he served as Director of the Department of Culture in the administration of Wilaya Setif. He was transferred to the same position in Burj Bou ' Arririj (according to the civil service rules in force in Algeria, an official serving in a certain wilaya is obliged to transfer to the same position in another wilaya after five years). He misses his native Setif, and considers Burj Bu ' Arriridge to be an artificially torn piece from the body of his native region. My interlocutor's father and three brothers live in their hometown, in the same new building where Mr. Farouk's own apartment is located, but they all have their own separate dwelling, that is, they live, as he put it, "together, but separately."

As we approached Setif, Mr. Farouk told me the story of the statue that stands at the 'Ain al-Fu'ara spring. According to him, the statue of a nude nymph was placed here in 1930 to commemorate the centenary of French rule in Algeria. ²⁸ Although the image of a naked female body, and even next to the mosque of the Ottoman period

²⁷ In connection with the topic of family-kinship relations, the information received from Professor 'A' is interesting. Burayu. In Algeria, special studies were conducted to find out the history of the formation of small villages called Bani... or Settle... ("The sons of so-and-so"). It turned out that most often such villages were founded by a nomadic (Berber or Arab) tribal leader or head of a clan in alliance with a bearer of spiritual authority (Sharif or Marabout) who came from the West. The chief gave up his daughter for the newcomer. He founded zawiyah. A village was formed around them. Its inhabitants are the actual descendants of Marabout, as well as the descendants of his Murids, who eventually began to consider themselves the true descendants of the founder of Zawiya. The village was named Bani (Ulad) in his honor... The mausoleum of the first ancestor may be located in such a locality. If there is no mausoleum, then the first ancestor is just a character in an oral tradition. In order to destroy tribal and clan ties, the French deliberately recorded members of the same family-related group under different surnames - in such cases, kinship ceased to be recognized, and the people's ability to resist weakened. At the same time, this policy has played a positive role, as tribal and clan ties are incompatible with the modern way of life (information received on December 17, 2010).

²⁸ In fact, as I was able to find out, the statue belongs to the chisel of the French sculptor Francis Dsn Vidal (1840-1900), it was installed in the Sstifs in 1898 after a demonstration at the World's Fair in Paris [setif.nfo. Ain El Fouara]. For F. ds Saint Vidal, see the article in the electronic edition of the Wikipcdia en francais.

"al -' Atiq " ²⁹ obviously violates the principles of Islam, the statue won the love of the Setif people and became the main symbol of the city. There was a belief: Anyone who drinks water from the spring it protects will surely return to Setif. Already in our time, the statue was blown up by Islamists (this happened in 1994-D. M.), it lost its arms and one leg, and its face was damaged. People became concerned, fearing that if the statue was destroyed, then the city would end ³⁰. One old worker, who restored the favorite of the townspeople, volunteered to help the grief. (Unfortunately, the traces of barbaric destruction could not be completely eliminated - I was convinced of this when I drank water from the spring, so that I would definitely return to Setif.) When we were driving through the city and passing the spring again, I saw a large crowd of local youth near the statue. Apparently, the source of 'Ain al-Fu'ara is a favorite place for leisure activities in Setif.

Speaking to me about the demonstration on May 8, 1945, Mr. Farouk pointed out that the unrest began in the Arab bazaar. During the clashes, 45 thousand people were killed. According to my informant, it is quite natural that such a large-scale protest action took place in Setif, because it is a city that is inherently rebellious and retains this spirit to this day. "The Setif people are still ready to oppose the government if they don't like it, and the current rulers of Algeria take this fact into account," he added proudly.³¹

LANGUAGE SITUATION

The educated population of Arab countries is very interested in the problems of functioning of the Arabic language, in how literary Arabic and its local colloquial variants (so-called dialects) are combined. Dr. Husain Aboun-Najah, a Palestinian native of Gaza who also participated in the conference, expressed great interest in language issues in particular. He has lived in Algeria since 1966, graduated from the University of Algiers, and is married to an Algerian woman. At home and in the circle of close people, Dr. Husain speaks the Palestinian dialect out of principle, because if he switches to the Algerian spoken language, it turns out unnatural and funny. Nevertheless, the Algerian dialect, he noted, is quite understandable to him, because of all the dialects it is the closest to the Arabic literary language. (I will note that I have often heard from the mouths of my many friends from different Arab countries that it is their native dialect that is closest to the Arabic literary language.) True, in the capital and other major cities, the Algerian dialect is spoiled by an admixture of French. Dr. Husain sees the reason for the purity of the Algerian dialect in the fact that in Algeria the Arabs practically did not mix with other peoples, while in other countries - Iraq, historical Syria, Egypt, etc. - such mixing occurred very intensively. He considers the Algerian Arabs to be mainly descendants of the Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym, who came to North Africa before Islam.³² Of course, Dr. Husain admitted at the end of our conversation, the Algerian dialect has pronounced features in verb conjugation, but this is not the main thing.

²⁹ The mosque is so named, apparently, in memory of the first Muslim Caliph Abu Bakr (632-634), who bore such a nickname, interpreted in various ways, including as "The most Enduring" [Abu Bakr, b.g., p.8-9].

³⁰ It is obvious that the veneration of the statue at the 'Ain al-Fu'ara spring is a fetish cult that has become the palladium (sacred guardian relic) of the city in which its soul resides, like the famous cast-iron pigeon on the dome of St. Sophia of Novgorod.

³¹ According to reliable information given to me by R. G. Landa, many Algerians were killed during these events, not only in Setif, but also in Gslms. Massacres carried out by the army, police and colonist militias continued throughout May 1945. Communists and moderate nationalists estimated the number of Algerians killed at 15-20 thousand, and radical nationalists-at 40-45 thousand people.

³² The idea of the early penetration of a number of Arab groups into North Africa, in particular Algeria, is typical for some educated Algerians. See, in particular, [Mikulsky, 2010, pp. 130-131]. It is also known that many Berber and Arab tribes of the al-Maghreb consider their first ancestors to be the Biblical patriarchs and relatives of the Prophet Muhammad (Peoples of Africa, 1954, p. 148).

ALGERIAN ORAL FOLK ART

It seems that the information obtained indicates a high degree of traditional way of life and mass consciousness of the population of Algeria. This thesis is also confirmed by the fact that the country continues to have a lively tradition of oral folk art. About this aspect of modern Algerian culture, I was able to get valuable information, as they say, first-hand - from a professor at the University of Algiers, ' Abd al-Hamid Burayou. For more than a decade, he has been engaged in a comparative study of oral folk art in different Arab countries and is going to write a generalizing work on the Arab folk heritage (folklore) based on the collected materials. About the nature of oral folk art in modern Algeria, the professor explained to me the following.

There are two traditions of folk poetry here. The first is urban, with its roots in al-Andalus. Poems belonging to this tradition are composed in a special poetic language, malhuna³³. The second tradition is Bedouin. Poems in this tradition are composed in a poetic language that goes back to the Bedouin dialects. This language differs from literary Arabic, its peculiarity lies in the fact that it constantly alternates between fatha and sukun. The rhyme (kafiya) is placed after the first tent (the first part of the verse line, byte), and not at the end of the second tent, as in poems in a literary language. The peculiarities of poetic language determine the character of prosody. If you make a written recording of such a poem and try to read it, it will not work out well - you need to be born a Bedouin to be able to recite such poems. The composition of many of these poems corresponds to the traditional kasid plan ³⁴.

Poets working within the first tradition are quite numerous. Almost every town has its own poet. For a living, such a "servant of the muses" earns not by creativity, but by something else. When a poet becomes famous, they look for a position in the local administration so that he can feed on it and continue to compose.

Apparently, their Bedouin brethren do not enjoy such support from local authorities. They perform their poems most often at weddings. Poems may cover topics that are not usually mentioned in other genres, for example, love. An example of a folk poem of this kind is the famous Khiziyya (see: [Mikulsky, 2010, pp. 129-133]). Here is a favorite plot of such poetic compositions. A certain deceased woman appears to the poet in a dream and asks him to tell her story in verse. It describes the interior of the grave where the deceased ³⁵ lies. The heroine and her cousin grew up together and fell in love with each other. My parents decided to marry them. The groom went to work to collect the necessary dowry for the wedding. In his absence, the bride gives birth to a child who falls ill and dies.³⁶ The unhappy mother pines, grows thin and pale, and then becomes dangerously ill. Then the groom returns with wedding gifts. He puts on his beloved in a wedding outfit, which turns out to be too big for her - she has lost so much weight. Then an angel descends from the sky

³³ For the lyrics of the most famous Algerian malhoon songs, see a recent publication: [Dcllai, 2006]. The preface to this anthology (p. 9-21)is a very informative account of the history of Maghreb song poetry on Malkhun.

³⁴ Qasida - in Arabic poetry, a long, close to an ode, poem of a laudatory or instructive nature [Big Dictionary of Foreign Words, Moscow: IDDK Publishing House, 2007].

³⁵ This motif seems to be derived from the Muslim dogma that the grave is for the righteous a "meadow of paradise" where they enjoy peace until the Last Judgment, and for the sinner it is a "pit of hell", which has spread widely with Islam throughout the East and is superimposed on the provisions of popular beliefs and other Middle Eastern religious beliefs. systems [Piotrovsky, 1991, p. 14].

³⁶ This motif may indicate that among the Algerian nomadic and semi-nomadic population, the custom of free cohabitation of the bride and groom before the wedding was common.

and arranges so that the bride's outfit fits. Soon after, the heroine gives her soul to God.

In addition to love themes, Bedouin poets also develop political themes. Most recently, 'A. Burayou recorded a Bedouin poet singing poems about Saddam Hussein's struggle with the Americans in southern Algeria. Of course, the poet's patriotic sympathies were given to the late Iraqi ruler.

In contrast to the popular Arabic poetic tradition that still exists today, the tradition of performing folk prose works by the Iev Maddahs has now come to naught. ' A. Burayu witnessed one of the last such performances in 1976 near the city of Biskra ³⁷. At that time, Maddah presented the well-known popular story Ra's al-Ghul (see: [Mikulsky, 2004, p. 88-96]) and some narratives about the deeds of 'Ali b.Talib. Previously, including during the French colonial rule, the place of performances of Maddahs was usually bazaars. Such ideas were patriotic in nature: the villain Ra's al-Ghul and other negative characters were associated with the French invaders (their caps, epaulettes and uniforms were perceived as the armor of villains). The old Maddahs themselves told my informant that the tradition began to fade after Algeria's independence in 1962. Then people began to feel the need for purely entertainment genres-songs and the like. The spread of television also contributed to the demise of the tradition.

An important symptom of the transformation of the folk culture of the al-Maghreb countries, accompanied by the death of many of its elements, is Professor 'A'. Burayou considers the disappearance from Tunisian book markets of inexpensive folk books, the so-called yellow (al-safra') books-accessible editions of various ancient treatises and popular works.³⁹

³⁷ Biskra is an ancient city in southeastern Algeria. The center of a large oasis. It is famous for its numerous varieties of dates. Founded by the Carthaginians. In Roman times it was called Vsssra. It was conquered by the French in 1849. Currently, it is the administrative center of the vilaya of the same name. A major railway junction. It has a number of food processing enterprises (fruit and vegetable processing) [Le Petit Fute..., 2005, p. 279].

³⁸ See M. Vashan's description of folk culture in Burj Bu ' Arririj in this connection.

³⁹ The author of these lines has collected a collection of similar publications, from the texts of which he translated the "Book of the Conquest of Yemen", as well as the erotic treatise" A Fragrant Garden for spiritual delights " by Sheikh an-Nafzawi (Moscow: Taus, 2008). The disappearance of "yellow" books from sale was noted by me during a business trip to Tunisia in June 2003.

At the same time, among the Algerian Arabs, descendants of the Hilalians, as 'A' noted. Burayu, the epic Sirat bani Hilal ("The Deeds of Banu Hilal") continues to exist, but not in the form of a complete narrative, but in the form of separate episodes (mawaki'), which are performed at weddings. The heroes of these episodes are most often the bogatyrs Diyab and his father Abu Diyab. These passages, according to 'A. Burayu, on the one hand, express Bedouin values, and on the other, reflect the process of mixing Arabs and Berbers, i.e. the process of forming a new society. Among the mawakas that exist in Algeria, some have acquired a religious connotation: the main characters act like Muslim saints (auliyah) or use their miraculous help and advice. From the point of view of 'A. Burayu, it is also a testament to the rootedness of the Banu Hilal in North African society. After all, before coming to al-Maghreb, they, like most other Bedouins, were only formally Muslim, while the cult of Muslim saints is an element of the local sedentary culture adopted by newcomers. Another frequently encountered plot motif of Algerianmawaki' is the conquest of a Berber woman (wife), which takes the form of solving riddles or winning a chess game.

The epic of Banu Hilal originated in Southern Egypt, which is why it is still popular there. It is possible that epic tales existed even before the 11th century, when Banu Hilal and Banu Sulaym marched to al-Maghrib. The tales were enriched with new details thanks to the news that came from those who had left as they advanced through North Africa. The tradition was significantly transformed, being enriched with new episodes and characters, some of which faded into the background. Due to this circumstance, the North African version of the epic does not know the hero of the Egyptian version Abu Zayd al-Hilali, and the Egyptian epic does not know Diyab

Unlike the Algerian Arabs, the Kabyles have ⁴⁰, 'A told me. Burayu, there is a tradition of oral performance of fairy tales in the local language. Usually, fairy tales are told at home, and the grandmother or mother of the family acts as the narrator. However, in the villages, or in a certain area, there are still well-known storytellers among the local population, who gather listeners in the evenings. For many years now, my informant has been leading student folklore expeditions dedicated to the study of Kabyle prose folklore. The texts collected by the participants of these expeditions are studied using the method of analyzing folk tales developed by the famous Russian folklorist V. Ya. Propp. Readers will agree with me that this circumstance is yet another evidence of the high authority of our national science and culture.⁴¹

list of literature

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and Abu Diyab. In addition, in North Africa itself, the Libyan, Tunisian, and Algerian versions differ significantly from each other (information received on December 17, 2010). For the Hilal epic, see [Schlcifcr, 1967, pp. 399-400].

⁴⁰ The Kabyles are one of the Berber peoples of Algeria, living in the historical regions of Greater and Lesser Kabylie, as well as Auras (in the north-east of the country). The very name "kabyls" comes from the Arabic word kaba'il ("tribes"). In medieval Arab historical and geographical works, al-kaba'il was understood as Berbers who belonged to the Masmud tribal union [Peoples of Africa, 1954, p. 150]. See also the Subject Index [Arab Sources..., 1985, p. 281]. 'A. Burayu claims that the ethnonym "Kabila" was coined by the French. In fact, the Kabila are Zuvava Berbers (information received on December 17, 2010).

⁴¹ According to Professor R. G. Landa, the Algerian Berbers are more inclined to preserve their own folklore than the Arabs. It is precisely because fairy tales are common among the Berbers that they have acquired a reputation among the Arabs as sorcerers. According to R. G. Landa, the image of the evil Maghreb wizard in the Book of a Thousand and One Nights is connected with this.

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