In this Francophonie week, the Franco-Moroccan writer Tahar Ben Jelloun recounts his relationship to the French language, and presents his new novel, Casablanca lovers.
“It is with the French language that I express my deep Morocco, which is Arabic, Berber, different… For about forty years, all the novels I have written on Morocco have been written through the French language. Language is a homeland, a country, a mode of the universe.
Morocco, and more precisely Casablanca, is once again the place of his new novel. 2016, Nabile and Lamia have been a solid couple for more than ten years. Until the day she falls in love with Daniel. Six months later, she asks for a divorce… What future for an ambitious woman in a patriarchal world where freedom comes at a high price? ? An exploration of the great adventure of marriage, the oscillations of desire, the small arrangements with religion and the capacity of human beings to embrace their contradictions.
- Guest : Tahar Ben JellounFranco-Moroccan writer, poet and painter. Author of short stories, novels, poems and essays, he won the Goncourt Prize in 1987 for his novel The Sacred Night. His latest novel, The Lovers of Casablancawill be released by Gallimard in April 2023.