Belɛid_At Ali, Kabyle language writer
Kabyle-language writer, Bélaïd Izarar, better known as Belaïd At-Ali, is originally from Azru Uqellal (near Michelet – Aïn El Hammam); he can be considered the first writer in the Kabyle language. Initiated and encouraged by J-L. Degezelle, from the “White Fathers”, Belaïd begins by transcribing traditional oral stories.
Very quickly, he began to compose himself, describing scenes of daily village life, rewriting his own version of the tales. Also his work goes well beyond the transcription of the few tales that Father Degezelle asked him to do at the beginning.
Apart from a few unpublished texts, which appear in the original manuscript deposited at the Berber Research Center of Inalco, Belaïd's work is entirely contained in the two volumes published by Dallet & Degezelle and of which here is the summary:
BELAÏD (IZARAR Belaïd: 1909 – 1950) [Belɛid At-ƐliI. Timucuha (I. Tales)
– Tamacahut uwaɣzniw (- The Ogre)
– Tamacahut uɛeqqa yessawalen (- The talking stone)
– Tamacahut n Bu-Yedmim (- Aubépin)
– Tamacahut inisi d wuccen (- The Hedgehog and the Jackal)
– Lɣani d lfaqir (- The rich and the poor)
– Tafunast igujilen (- The orphans’ cow)
– Lwali n wedrar (- The holy man of the mountain)
– Aẓidan d umerẓagu (- The best and the worst)
– Ayen tzerɛeḍ (- What we sow)
– D ayen d-ḥekkun (- Stories we tell)
II. Amexluḍ (II. Mixtures)
– Afenjal n lqahwa (- A cup of coffee)
– Asmi heddrent lehwayec (- In the time when the beasts spoke)
– Lexḍubegga (- Marriage proceedings)
– Jedi (- Grandfather)
– D amezwaru unebdu (- First day of summer)
– At-zik (- Our elders)
– Sut taddart (- Our village women)
III. Isefra (III. Choice of poems)
Belaïd did better than his predecessors, Ben Sedira and Boulifa, the precursors of Kabyle literature written in Latin characters, who could not or knew how to free themselves from the constraints of orality. Bélaïd shook up this order of things to give a new dimension to the written prose that he in fact established as a Kabyle genre.
He introduced the narrator into the text and the psychological portrait of the main characters. His sense of observation allowed him to capture and sketch the facial features and attitudes of his characters.
We must therefore consider Belaïd as the true founder of written Kabyle literature.
died on May 12, 1950 at the age of 41, in Mascara, in an old people's home.
Rest in peace
Source: websites