During this Francophonie week, the Franco-Moroccan writer Tahar Ben Jelloun talks about his relationship with the French language and presents his new novel. Casablanca lover.
“With the French language I express my deep Morocco, which is Arabic, Berber, different… For about forty years, all the novels I have written about Morocco have been written in French. Language is a homeland, a country, a mode of the universe.
Morocco, more precisely Casablanca, is once again the scene of his new novel. 2016, Nabile and Lamia have been a steady couple for more than ten years. Until the day she falls in love with Daniel. Six months later she is asking for a divorce… What future for an ambitious woman in a patriarchal world where freedom comes at a high price? An exploration of the grand adventure of marriage, the vacillations of desire, the small covenants of religion, and people’s ability to embrace their contradictions.
- Guest : Tahar Ben JellounFranco-Moroccan writer, poet and painter. Author of short stories, novels, poems and essays, he won the 1987 Goncourt Prize for his novel The Holy Night. his latest novel The lovers of Casablancawill be published by Gallimard in April 2023.
