Biography
Born in Fez, Morocco to a shopkeeper and his wife in December of 1944, Tahar Ben Jelloun is one of North Africa’s most successful post-colonial writers. Winner of France’s Prix Goncourt, Ben Jelloun moved at eighteen from Fez to Tangier where he attended a French high school until enrolling at the Universite Mohammed V in Rabat in 1963. It was at the university where Ben Jelloun’s writing career began. Exposed to the journal Soufflés (Breaths ) as well as the journal’s founder, poet Abdellatif Laabi, Ben Jelloun completed his first poems, publishing his first collection, Hommes Sous Linceul de Silence , in 1971. After completing his Philosophy studies in Rabat, in 1971, Ben Jelloun immigrated to France. In France, he attended the Universite de Paris, receiving his Ph.D. in psychiatric social work in 1975. Along with providing material for his dissertation, La Plus Haute des Solitudes, Ben Jelloun draws upon his experience as a psychotherapist for his creative writing. His second novel, La Reclusion Solitaire (later Solitaire ), is a fictionalized account of some of his patients’ dysfunction which was written in 1976. Between 1976-1987 Ben Jelloun was regularly published and received awards, but it was not until his novel L’Enfant de Sable, (later translated as The Sand Child ) that he became well-known and recognized, with all of his novels since The Sand Child being translated into English. The sequel to L’Enfant de Sable , La Nuit Sacree or The Sacred Night is the work for which he received his most notable award, the Prix Goncourt in 1987. Ben Jelloun now lives in Paris with his wife, Aicha, and his daughter, Merieme.
Themes
* Language
The use of language is an interesting factor in Ben
Jelloun’s work. Critics have maintained that Ben Jelloun is catering
to a French audience. After all, although Ben Jelloun is Moroccan
and hence Arabic is his native language, he chose to write in 
French. Likewise, in his novel Les Yeux Baisses, a young Moroccan
girl becomes enamored with the French language and wishes to be a French writer.
Some say it is difficult not to parallel this character’s situation with
Ben Jelloun’s. Ben Jelloun simply declares, though, "When I started
to write it came normally to write in French...I feel freer when I write
in French." From this statement and others such as "Arabic is my wife
and French is my mistress; and I have been unfaithful to both," it is obvious
though that bilingualism is an integral part of his life as well as a theme
in his works. Regardless of Ben Jelloun’s inclination towards French
or lack thereof, he is quite clever in incorporating languages into his writings.
For instance, in La Nuit Sacree , he refers to a woman waiting
on people in the restroom as L’Assise which in French means "the
seated woman" and which in Arabic is translated into gellas, the title
given to women who sit and wait on those in the restroom. This use
of duality of languages adds to the complexity and sophistication of his
pieces.
* Moroccan culture
Although the language for some readers may be an
obstacle, others argue that it is Ben Jelloun’s incorporation of Moroccan
culture into his texts which alienates readers. Situations unfamiliar
to his audience may be difficult to relate to; therefore his stories may
lose some legitimacy. An obvious example is that of pretending that
one’s daughter is a son in order to preserve one’s property and maintain
one’s prestige. Although this probably seems foreign to most, one could
argue that the themes of gender identity and the way in which it relates
to power and societal structure are pervasive throughout all cultures.
If the reader does not agree with this statement, he can simply take Ben
Jelloun’s work as an entertaining tale rather than a social commentary.
However, it is just this latter aspect of Moroccan incidents or references
that are disturbing for some critics. Not only does Ben Jelloun write
about Moroccan situations that may be seen by others as nonsensical and/or
uncivilized, but he openly criticizes them. Although this has resulted
in the praise by, for example, women’s groups, critics protest that Ben Jelloun
defends and appeals to Europeans through stereotyping and a skewed perception
of Morocco.
* Surrealism
It has been said that Ben Jelloun is primarily a
poet; therefore his writing style resembles that of a poet. His work
is concise yet full of poetic images and lyrical language. Ben Jelloun
is a story teller, but he also allows the reader to become involved in his
magical world. Dream-like states, hallucinations, and allusions to
Andre Breton and the exquisite corpse each give Ben Jelloun’s work a magical
intoxicated quality. Unreliable narrators and different points of view
of the same story add to the mystical atmosphere as well. Ben Jelloun
ends L’Enfant de Sable with, "If any of you really wants to
know how this story ended, he will have to ask the moon when it is full.
I now lay before you the book, the inkwell, and the pens." This creative
space for doubt and wonder gives the piece a surrealist quality. After
all, it may have simply been a fanciful tale, it may have been a true story.
One is not quite sure.
* Sexuality/ Dysfunction
Having received his doctorate for the relationship
between sexuality and immigration into France of North African male workers,
Ben Jelloun also is quite interested in sexuality and dysfunction.
The majority of his works have the protagonist suffering from some sort of
dysfunction whether it be sexual, as in, L’Enfant de Sable
or more physical, as in, L’Ecrivain Public.
The Sand Child/Sacred Night
Ben Jelloun’s first book translated into English, The Sand Child, catapulted him into the literary spotlight. The themes of gender identity and a male-dominated society, of masking and storytelling, and surrealism provide the backdrop for a surreal story of secrets, sexuality and identity. The main character, Ahmed, is the eighth daughter of man without an heir. Raised as a boy, Ahmed eventually realizes she is a girl, but accustomed to her status of power as a male in Islamic society, decides to remain a man, even marrying her distant cousin Fatima. Her desire to have children marks the beginning of her sexual evolution. As a woman named Zahra, Ahmed discovers her true sexuality and her true identity. The sequel, The Sacred Night, completes Zahra’s transformation, with Zahra finding her life with a blind man named Consul.
Works
Novels
Harrouda. Denoel, 1973.
La Reclusion Solitaire Denoel, 1976. Translated by Nick Hindley as Solitaire. Quartet, 1988.
Moha le Fou, Moha le Sage. Seuil, 1978.
La Priere de l’Absent. Seuil, 1981.
Muha al-ma`twah, Muha al-hakin. Seuil, 1982.
L’Ecrivain Public. Seuil, 1983.
L’Enfant de Sable. Seuil, 1985. Translated by Alan Sheridan as The Sand Child. Harcourt, 1987.
La Nuit Sacree. Seuil, 1987. Translated by Alan Sheridan as The Sacred Night. Harcourt, 1989.
Jour de Silence a Tanger. Seuil, 1990. Translated Silent Day in Tangier. Quartet, 1991.
Les Yeux Baisses. Seuil, 1991. Translated by David Lobdell as With
Downcast Eyes. Quartet, 1993.
Poetry
Hommes Sous Linceul de Silence. Atlantes, 1970.
Le Discours du Chameau. F. Maspero, 1974.
La Memoire Future: Anthologie de la Nouvelle Poesie du Maroc. F. Maspero, 1976.
Les Amandiers Sont Morts de Leurs Blessures. F. Maspero, 1976.
A L’Insu du Souvenir. F. Maspero, 1980.
Sahara. Mulhouse, 1987.
La Remontee des Cendres. Seuil, 1991.
Plays
Chronique d’une Solitude. Avignon, France, 1976.
Entretien avec Monsieur Said Hammadi, Ouvrier Algerien. Theatre National de Chaillot , 1982.
La Fiancee de l’Eau. Theatre Populaire de Lorraine, 1984.
Nonfiction
La Plus Haute des Solitudes: Misere Sexuelle d’Emigres Nord-Africains. Seuil, 1977.
Le Pain Nu Translated from Arabic by Mohamed Choukri. F. Maspero, 1980.
Haut Atlas: L’Exil de Pierres. Chene, 1982.
Hospitalite Francaise: Racisme et Immigration, Maghrebine. Seuil, 1984.
Marseille, Comme un Matin d’Insomnie. Le Temps Parallele, 1986.
Giacometti. Editions Flohic, 1991.
Awards
*Prix de l’Amitie Franco-Arabe 1976 for Les Amandiers Sont Morts de
Leurs Blessures
*Prix de l’Association des Bibliothecaires de France et de Radio Monte-Carlo
1978 for Moha le Fou, Moha le Sage
*Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres 1983
*Prix Goncourt 1987 for La Nuit Sacree
*Chevailer de la Legion d’Honneur 1988
*Prix des Hemispheres 1991 for Les Yeux Baisses
Works Cited
Colby, Vineta, ed. World Authors 1985-90. New York: H.W. Wilson, 1995.
DiYanni, Robert, ed. The Reader’s Adviser. 14th edition Volume 2: The Best in World Literature. New Providence, New Jersey, 1994.
France, Peter, ed. The New Oxford Companion to Literature in French. New York: Oxford UP, 1995.
Peacock, Scot, ed. Contemporary Authors. Volume 162. Detroit: Gale, 1998.
Related Links
Author: Amy Owen, Spring 1999
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