Tahar Ben Jelloun
Encyclopedia
Tahar Ben Jelloun (born in Fes
, Morocco
, 1 December 1944) is a Moroccan
poet
and writer
. The entirety of his work is written in French
, although his first language is Arabic
.
, Morocco
until he was 18 years old. He continued his studies in philosophy at Mohammed-V University in Rabat, where he composed his first poems (collected in Hommes sous linceul de silence (1971).
After that point, Ben Jelloun worked as a professor in Morocco, teaching philosophy first in Tetouan and then in Casablanca. However, he left Morocco in 1971, after the arabization
of the philosophy department, unable or unwilling to teach in Arabic. He moved to Paris to continue his studies in psychology, and began to write more extensively.
Starting in 1972, Ben Jelloun began to write articles and reviews for the French newspaper [Le Monde], and in 1975 he received his doctorate in social psychiatry
. Using his experience with psychotherapy as both a reference and an inspiration, he wrote the book La Réclusion solitaire in 1976.
In 1985, Ben Jelloun published the novel L'Enfant de sable, which was widely celebrated. He won the Prix Goncourt
in 1987 for his novel La Nuit Sacrée.
In 1997, he saw his novel Le Racisme expliqué à ma fille published, wherein he "explains racism to his daughter", using his family as inspiration for his novels. He is regularly asked to give speeches and lectures at universities worldwide - both in Morocco, and all over Europe.
In 2004, Ben Jelloun was awarded the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
for This Blinding Absence of Light (translated from the French by Linda Coverdale
). He was rewarded the Prix Ulysse in 2005 for the entirety of his work
In September 2006, Ben Jelloun was awarded a special prize for "peace and friendship between people" at Lazio between Europe and the Mediterranean Festival
.
On 1 February 2008, Nicolas Sarkozy
awarded him the Cross of Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur
.
Ben Jelloun is married and father of four children. He lives in Paris.
In his novel Leaving Tangier, Ben Jelloun writes about a Moroccan brother and sister who leave their impoverished home in search of better lives in Spain. This novel sheds a cold light on a side of North African life that is often overlooked and at times unimaginable; he is unflinching in his commitment to expose the sacrifice and pain inherent in the struggle to rise above poverty and move within the Western world. Leaving Tangier centers on the paths of Azel and his sister, Kenza, as they seek to reinvent their lives, in Barcelona, and how their paths diverge once they get there. Each sibling’s ambition rests in the hands of Miguel, a mysterious wealthy older Spaniard, and a man generous and loving one moment, demanding and cruel the next. Miguel’s power lies in what he can offer the siblings—and in what he can take away.
His novels L'Enfant de sable and La Nuit sacrée are translated into 43 languages. Le racisme expliqué à ma fille has been translated into 33 languages. He has participated in translating many of his works.
Fes
Fes or Fez is the second largest city of Morocco, after Casablanca, with a population of approximately 1 million . It is the capital of the Fès-Boulemane region....
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, 1 December 1944) is a Moroccan
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
. The entirety of his work is written in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, although his first language is Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
.
Life
After attending a bilingual (Arabic-French) elementary school, Ben Jelloun studied French in TangierTangier
Tangier, also Tangiers is a city in northern Morocco with a population of about 700,000 . It lies on the North African coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel...
, Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
until he was 18 years old. He continued his studies in philosophy at Mohammed-V University in Rabat, where he composed his first poems (collected in Hommes sous linceul de silence (1971).
After that point, Ben Jelloun worked as a professor in Morocco, teaching philosophy first in Tetouan and then in Casablanca. However, he left Morocco in 1971, after the arabization
Arabization
Arabization or Arabisation describes a growing cultural influence on a non-Arab area that gradually changes into one that speaks Arabic and/or incorporates Arab culture...
of the philosophy department, unable or unwilling to teach in Arabic. He moved to Paris to continue his studies in psychology, and began to write more extensively.
Starting in 1972, Ben Jelloun began to write articles and reviews for the French newspaper [Le Monde], and in 1975 he received his doctorate in social psychiatry
Social psychiatry
Social psychiatry is a branch of psychiatry that focuses on the "interpersonal" and cultural context of mental disorder and mental wellbeing. It involves a sometimes disparate set of theories and approaches, with work stretching from epidemiological survey research on the one hand, to an indistinct...
. Using his experience with psychotherapy as both a reference and an inspiration, he wrote the book La Réclusion solitaire in 1976.
In 1985, Ben Jelloun published the novel L'Enfant de sable, which was widely celebrated. He won the Prix Goncourt
Prix Goncourt
The Prix Goncourt is a prize in French literature, given by the académie Goncourt to the author of "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year"...
in 1987 for his novel La Nuit Sacrée.
In 1997, he saw his novel Le Racisme expliqué à ma fille published, wherein he "explains racism to his daughter", using his family as inspiration for his novels. He is regularly asked to give speeches and lectures at universities worldwide - both in Morocco, and all over Europe.
In 2004, Ben Jelloun was awarded the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award is an international literary award for a work of fiction, jointly sponsored by the city of Dublin, Ireland and the company IMPAC. At €100,000 it is one of the richest literary prizes in the world...
for This Blinding Absence of Light (translated from the French by Linda Coverdale
Linda Coverdale
Linda Coverdale lives in Brooklyn, New York, and has a Ph.D in French Literature. She has translated into English more than 60 works by such authors as Roland Barthes, Emmanuel Carrère, Patrick Chamoiseau, Maryse Condé, Marie Darrieussecq, Jean Echenoz, Annie Ernaux, Sébastien Japrisot, Tahar Ben...
). He was rewarded the Prix Ulysse in 2005 for the entirety of his work
In September 2006, Ben Jelloun was awarded a special prize for "peace and friendship between people" at Lazio between Europe and the Mediterranean Festival
Lazio between Europe and the Mediterranean Festival
Lazio between Europe and the Mediterranean is a cultural festival held annually in Rome, Lazio, Italy. The first edition of the festival is held between September 21 and October 14, 2006....
.
On 1 February 2008, Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
awarded him the Cross of Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
.
Ben Jelloun is married and father of four children. He lives in Paris.
In his novel Leaving Tangier, Ben Jelloun writes about a Moroccan brother and sister who leave their impoverished home in search of better lives in Spain. This novel sheds a cold light on a side of North African life that is often overlooked and at times unimaginable; he is unflinching in his commitment to expose the sacrifice and pain inherent in the struggle to rise above poverty and move within the Western world. Leaving Tangier centers on the paths of Azel and his sister, Kenza, as they seek to reinvent their lives, in Barcelona, and how their paths diverge once they get there. Each sibling’s ambition rests in the hands of Miguel, a mysterious wealthy older Spaniard, and a man generous and loving one moment, demanding and cruel the next. Miguel’s power lies in what he can offer the siblings—and in what he can take away.
His novels L'Enfant de sable and La Nuit sacrée are translated into 43 languages. Le racisme expliqué à ma fille has been translated into 33 languages. He has participated in translating many of his works.
Selected works
- Harrouda (19731973 in literatureThe year 1973 in literature involved several significant events and the writing of many notable books.-Events:*September 25 - The funeral of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda becomes a focus for protests against the new government of Augusto Pinochet...
) - Solitaire (19761976 in literatureThe year 1976 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Saul Bellow won both the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.-New books:*Kingsley Amis – The Alteration...
) - French Hospitality (1984)
- The Sand ChildThe Sand ChildThe Sand Child is a 1985 novel by Moroccan author Tahar Ben Jelloun. First published in France, the novel's message expresses on multiple levels ideas about the post-colonial condition of Morocco whilst also emphasising themes relating to the construction of individual identities...
(19851985 in literatureThe year 1985 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Isaac Asimov - Robots and Empire*Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale*Jean M. Auel - The Mammoth Hunters*Iain Banks - Walking on Glass...
) - The Sacred Night (19871987 in literatureThe year 1987 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Tom Wolfe was paid $5 million for the film rights to his novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities, the most ever earned by an author, at the time.-Fiction:...
) - Silent Day in Tangiers (19901990 in literatureThe year 1990 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*J. K. Rowling gets the idea for Harry Potter while on a train ride from Manchester to London. She says "I was staring out the window, and the idea for Harry just came. He appeared in my mind's eye, very fully formed...
) - With Downcast Eyes (19911991 in literatureThe year 1991 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Douglas Coupland publishes the novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, popularizing the term Generation X as the name of the generation....
) - State of Absence (1992)
- Corruption (19951995 in literatureThe year 1995 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea is opened by Jimmy Carter....
) - The Fruits of Hard Work (1996)
- Praise of Friendship (1996)
- L'Auberge des pauvres (1997)
- Racism Explained to My DaughterRacism Explained to My DaughterRacism Explained to My Daughter is a book in which the author, during a demonstration against an immigration law in Paris, answers his daughter's questions about the reasons for racism....
(19981998 in literatureThe year 1998 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 5 - Tennessee Williams' 1938 play, Not About Nightingales, receives its stage première....
) - Islam Explained (20022002 in literatureThe year 2002 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 16: Authorities in Saudi Arabia arrested and jailed poet Abdul Mohsen Musalam and fired a newspaper editor following the publication of Musalam's poem The Corrupt on Earth that criticized the state's Islamic...
) - This Blinding Absence of Light (20032003 in literatureThe year 2003 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Peter Ackroyd - The Clerkenwell Tales*Atsuko Asano - No...
) - La Belle au bois dormant (2004)
- The last friend (2006)
- Yemma (2007)
- Leaving Tangier (2009)
- The Rising of the Ashes (2009) ISBN 978-0872865266.
- A Palace in the Old Village (2010)
External links
- Rawafed: documentary interview Tahar Ben Jelloun "part one". Alarabiya.net
- Rawafed: documentary interview Tahar Ben Jelloun "part two". Alarabiya.net
- Homepage of Tahar Ben Jelloun
- - "Dialogue interculturel et complaisance esthétique dans l'oeuvre de Tahar Ben Jelloun", Par Salah NATIJ, in website Ma'duba / Invitation à l'adab, Le Premier Amour est Toujours le Dernier moha le fou, moha le sage
- "Tahar Ben Jelloun's The Rising of the Ashes", City Lights
- "Tahar Ben Jelloun Art Review: The Roots of Times", Morocco Newsline, 15 December 2009
- Tahar Ben Jelloun: The Arab Spring - The Comfortable Way to Take Part in a Revolution
- A 2011 interview with Tahar Ben Jelloun in Exberliner Magazine