Bouraba was an Algerian novelist who ended up homeless in Paris. From Algiers, he wrote seven novels, all in Arabic. Today Bouraba is a common Arab surname in both Algeria and France, but is sometimes also a first name. Frankly, more is written about the tertiary character Bouraba in the Pamela Travers version Sleeping Beauty (1975). I know of two references and a third derivative of the other two.
One reference is found in
The Letters of Allen Ginsberg:
"I can't fathom—anyway door knock, just turned away Arab acquaintance Bouraba, wrote 7 novels in Arabic, from Algiers, sensitive Arabic even Bill thinks is good intentioned, one maybe translated I dunno in French— wanders around Paris no place to sleep slept here last nite—I wanted to be alone with Coke Jack- said I was typing. He showed me his wet shoulders from rain and said 'mas in tout cas mieux que vous travillez sans distraction' I said 'pardon c'est vrai - a bientot'."
Another reference can be found in a quote in the Book
The Beat Hotel:
"That fucking Arab woke me up at three A.M., and at eight A.M. somebody came around looking for 'friends from Oxford'. . .” The “fucking Arab was Bouraba, an Algerian who had written seven novels and who wandered around Paris, staying wherever he could, often sleeping rough. Allen had sometimes let him stay on the floor of his room if the weather was bad."
Barry Miles didn't have much to add about Bouraba that you can't glean from that single sentence in Ginsberg's letter. But the two letters are written by different people at different times. There is no doubt that Bouraba existed. But we learn nothing of his works, or of him as a person. Even not, half a century later, so little Algerian writing has been translated into French or English it may not be possible to identify him.
