Alysar

by Jean-Marie Juvin

The Alysar bookshop was inaugurated at the southern end of Marseille Street one year ago.
Mrs Ousseiran was born in the Lebanon. She is also in charge of this new place of Arabo-Moslem and African culture. The bookshops which are specialised in the Arabic world are in Paris. In the provinces, it is difficult to find books that deal with sociology, politics, history, or literature, except the classics. From this fact the long-time project of the Alysar bookshop was born. One thing makes it different from the other bookshops in Lyon: the scope of the books proposed is not limited to religious culture.

"Why are bookshops different in France? Why aren't they a place of variety, of general culture, in which scientific and literary books are mixed with religious books? It is a typically French phenomenon. For example, it is totally different in London. "Thus, through its Jacobin model, the differences and the cultural particularisms have disappeared in France: the religious expression can be considered as the most obvious identitary reflex.
But the facts are not necessarily as simple as that: the recognition of an Arabo-Moslem legacy (from Al-Andalus golden age) is more and more visible in the European culture. This new interest makes us forget religious disputes and colonial antecedents, that seemed to be like refractory scars endorsing us to accept the idea of a common history. A new process of memory has begun.
May be Alysar can be considered as an example of this cultural mixity. Studies on the African world, Arabic literature, tales, poetry, religious books…Books come from the capitals of publishing trade: Beyrouth, Cairo, Teheran. It is possible to find CD's too (some are published by the Arabic World Institute of Paris), post-cards, calligraphies, and a great deal of books written in French, or translated.

At this occasion, we can note the existence of a totally new game, a bilingual Arabic-French parlour game. "Les Piliers" is an educative and cultural game created a few years ago by a staff that included complementary cultures: Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, France. It is a kind of "Trivial Pursuit". Its goal is to let us know the Arabo-Moslem culture better. In spite of its unique complexion, it can only be found in ten or a dozen bookshops in France. Alysar is one of them. It is an active place of broadcasting, thanks to its location, near the universities. Nevertheless, Alysar sometime flies off the handle and – with a chosen stock of books – participates to civic demonstrations such as the "Meeting day about Palestine" at the Jardin des Possibles, second edition. More recently, it has been involved in a meeting at the Villeurbanne's C.C.O. to help Mumia Abu Jamal (sentenced to death by an American court, he sordidly waits for his execution). Another project will let us know better the site of this bookshop and its spirit: a tribute to the African writer Amadou Hampata Bâ at the end of January. It would be interesting if Alysar could become a new place of exchange between cultures.

Librairie Alysar – 86, rue de Marseille.69007 Lyon/
Tel: 04 78 72 84 22

Translated by Michael Berardan