TAHAR /
BEN / JELLOUN
MOROCCO
PROSE AND POETRY
ahar Ben Jelloun was born in 1944 in Fès, Morocco. Since 1971 he has lived in Paris. Drawing on his own experiences and his studies in phi- losophy in Rabat and social psychiatry at the Sorbonne in Paris, he is one of the most hard- working and widely read of writers. Since 1972, new poetry collections, short stories or novels have been available at bookshop counters more or less every year. Many, or to be more exact, 15 of his novels have found their way to Swe- den, including Sandbarnet (L’Enfant de Sable), Stilla dagar i Tanger (Jour de Silence à Tanger) and Den blinda ängeln (L’Ange Avugle).
His latest novel, Sûr Ma Mère, was trans- lated into Swedish (Min mamma) in 2010 by Ragna Essén and published by Alfabeta. The novel is composed in a very refined way. Inter- spersed between the present-day chapters about his demented mother, who lives in her house in Tangiers and is taken care of by two servants, there is a description of her entire life from childhood to old age. Tahar Ben Jelloun writes sensitively and in a soft, tender and sensual manner, with a touch of humour and with his eyes open to life’s hilarious small mishaps.
Above all, he shows his mother the greatest tenderness, understanding and respect.
T
TAHAR BEN JELLOUN visited the AfricA stAnd And Also pArticipAted in the seminAr “l’histoire des femmes mArocAines.” his lAtest novel, sûr mA mère, describes his mother’s fAte And the chAnging conditions for moroccAn women.
