The Skull

The Skull is a reflection on the author's French/Algerian heritage and the legacy of colonialism, with particular reference to the remains to be found in the Musée de l’Homme in Paris which are those of the thousands of Algerians slaughtered by French forces in Algeria in the 19th century. As a noted writer, Le Clerc is given access to the vaults of the Musée de l’Homme, and picks out the severed skull of a small girl he imagines is ‘Zohra’. His address to Zohra’s skull includes accounts of his own life and experience as an Algerian immigrant, as well as of the violent history of the country and its conquest by the French. The unflinching tone he uses to describe the barbarity of the invading forces contrasts with the lyricism of his recollection of the beauty of his country and its people.