Par le feu

by Tahar Ben Jelloun

Le 17 décembre 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi s’immolait par le feu. Ce geste radical fut le signal déclencheur de la Révolution de Jasmin en Tunisie. Tahar Ben Jelloun, dans une fiction brève, réaliste et poétique, reconstitue les jours qui ont précédé ce sacrifice. Un superbe hommage aux révolutions arabes et ces millions d’hommes et de femmes anonymes descendus dans les rues pour réclamer liberté et dignité dans leur pays.

Genres: Africa, School, Fiction, France, Historical Fiction, Essays, 21st Century

50 pages, Broché

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Tahar Ben Jelloun (Arabic: الطاهر بن جلون) is a Moroccan writer. The entirety of his work is written in French, although his first language is Arabic. He became known for his 1985 novel L’Enfant de Sable (The Sand Child). Today he lives in Paris and continues to write. He has been short-listed for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Reviews

[Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ho letto Fuoco: Una storia vera, brevissima biografia romanzata delle ultime ore di vita di Mohamed Bouazizi.

Mohamed Bouazizi è stato un attivista tunisino, divenuto simbolo delle sommosse popolari in Tunisia del 2010-2011 dopo essersi dato fuoco in segno di protesta per le condizioni economiche del suo paese. Col suo gesto è cominciata la primavera araba di recente storia.
L'appendice all'edizione italiana è quasi lunga quanto il racconto, cosa che potrebbe irritarmi, e non inerente al racconto stesso, cosa che mi irrita sul serio. Bompiani ci offre altri due pezzi sulla Siria che, per carità, è stato coinvolto dalle rivolte del lustro scorso e ancora riempie i nostri giornali e tg, ma se sto leggendo la storia di un martire tunisino mi piacerebbe sapere se e cosa è cambiato nel SUO paese dopo il SUO gesto.
Caro editore, o mi offri il semplice testo a firma dell'autore in copertina o, se vuoi fare l'aggiunta, falla in tema! Potevi dirmi che ne è stato della sua famiglia, della fidanzata, del suo quartiere. Potevi dirmi, senza farmi cercare su Wikipedia, che gli è stata dedicata una piazza nel 14e arrondissement di Parigi, che è stato insignito del Premio Sakharov per la libertà di pensiero per il suo contributo a "cambiamenti storici nel mondo arabo, che il Times l'ha proclamato personaggio dell'anno 2011. Invece no, si va in Siria con l'emotiva storia del bambino 13 torturato. Non so, mi puzza di volerci marciare su.

[Zippergirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief but deeply insightful look at the spark which ignited the Arab Spring/Jasmine Revolution that began in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia. Thoughtfully translated with copious background material.

[Fadoua · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Par le Feu" is a fiction through which Ben Jelloun honors Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian street vendor who set himself on fire on December 17, 2010. Bouazizi's brutal death sparked the Tunisian revolution. Ben Jelloun cleverly disconnects the story of Bouazizi from its geographical context to convey that Bouazizi's pain is beyond borders and that millions in Arabic countries can identify with Bouazizi's situation. I also liked the elegant "clein d'oeil" where Bouazizi joins the funeral of Egypt's Syed Bilal.

[Kevin Clouther · Rating 5 out of 5]

A remarkable and important story. English-language readers are fortunate to have Nezami's elegant translation and thoughtful introduction.

[Yahia Lababidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Where does one begin to speak of the Arab Spring, after all that has been
expended in dreams, analysis, and lives? In By Fire, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Moroccan intellectual and one of the most acclaimed novelists writing in French today, attempts to creatively rescue from the ashes Mohamed Bouazizi, the self-immolating fruit vendor credited with igniting the Tunisian revolt.

This slim novella, the first fictional account to tackle the subject, was initially published in 2011 at the height of the protests. Gracefully translated, with an illuminating and exhaustive introduction, by Rita S. Nezami, By Fire is a work of imaginative empathy and real compassion. Upon reading the work of fiction in one sitting, Nezami spontaneously combusted into translation: “There are urgent stories out there that need to be told in as many languages as possible and made available to world readers.”

Ben Jelloun, for his part, trusts in the power of literature to enflesh a
symbol, lend voice to silent masses, and get to the heart of a human drama
more powerfully than any news report might. “I focused on Mohamed’s
story,” he says in an interview. “I closed my eyes, I saw it, and I wrote it.
Beyond the specific situation in Tunisia, Mohamed Bouazizi became a valuable symbol for all cultures and all countries in pursuit of dignity.”

Also collected in this slender volume are Ben Jelloun’s nonfiction accounts of the political back-story, The Spark. Here, he categorically condemns dictatorship and police brutality in Tunisia and throughout the Arab world, contrasting their cruelty and corruption to the living poem of an
oppressed people rising up in peaceful resistance (specifically, in Tunisia and Egypt).

All first-rate poetry is occupied with morality, according to T. S. Eliot;
and By Fire, in its quietly lyrical way, is above all a moral book. Reading it is
meant to prick our conscience and disturb us—as we consider the pitiable
conditions and institutionalized injustice that push a human being to use
their body as a last site of protest, to die in order to be heard. Together,
the nonfiction and fiction sections complement one another in telling the
humiliating life story of our desperate protagonist, from the inside and out,
in plainspoken, urgent prose.

“Despair is betrayal” was one of the slogans of the Egyptian Revolution, urging people not to lose hope in change. In that sense, this is not a despairing work but a reminder of what was once possible and what is still at stake if—through ignorance, apathy, or worse—we turn the other way
when confronted with the suffering of millions of innocent others.

[Ilana · Rating 4 out of 5]

A literary account and a novelist point of view on the dramatic events at the end of 2010 and 2011 in Tunisia, Tahar Ben Jelloun's By Fire doesn't add new interpretations of the historical account. The two essays translated from French are aimed to multiply the memory of the so-called Jasmine Revolution, that started from the self-immolation act by the young unemployed graduate Mohamed Bouazizi.
Unable to cope on his own with the injustices and corruption in the country, Bouazizi, harassed by the police for the only fault of trying to honestly gain his existence selling fruits from a cart in the market, decided to end his life in a symbolic way. By putting himself on fire he wanted to send a desperate message to the public. He died of his wounds a couple of days later, and his act made history, as president Ben Ali left the country following the revolt that spread all over the country.
The death of Bouazizi, as well as the change of the corrupt president didn't change on the long term the situation of the country, but at least opened a window for hope. Of course, hope it is not enough to bring bread on the table but this might encourage change, both individual and at the society level. Bouazizi didn't have any hope any more hence his desperate act. Ben Jelloun recognizes that one single voice it is not enough: '(...) isolated voices can never bring down dictators; it took many incidents, clashes with the police, glaring injustices and intolerable acts for the spark to finally ignite'. The 'Arab Spring' was a hope not necessarily leading to dramatic changes, but literary minds and writers in general are always tempted to dream.
However, the short essays are realistically written, more focused to describe facts and events than to make comments and projections. It offers important historical background and information not only for the novel reader, but also for anyone interested to have a short but comprehensive understanding on the 'Jasmine Revolution'.

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

[Meghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

If ever there was a story that needed no introduction, here it is: By Fire, which actually comprises the back third of this slim volume. So let's talk about that story, a fictional rendering of Mohamed Bouazizi's last few days of life. And yes, usually when something needs no introduction it doesn't need me to wikipedia link to it, but the reason that By Fire needs no introduction is because, by itself, it is a stand-alone, super-good, well-written novella. It is literature, in all the universal definitions that I'm sure someone taught me in high school but that I didn't pay attention to.

Of course, because that's the way my life works, there is an introduction: a meandering, fan-girl (which I totally understand: Tahar Ben Jelloun seems like a freakin' amazing author) all-over-the-place discussion of how the translator literally found the story (in a bookshop, in France), Tunisian history, reading her translation at SUNY Buffalo, her students reactions, why the story is meaningful, Ben Jelloun's life, etc. Basically, the book starts with a whole slew of disorganized thoughts that I suppose are relevant, but why not let the story tell them first? Why not put By Fire at the beginning and the Translator's Thoughts at the end, a digestif rather than apéritif?

Middle-third: excerpts from some of Ben Jelloun's other writings (non-fiction) regarding the Arab Spring. It could stay in the middle, as long as the beginning (Translator's Note) and the ending (By Fire) switch places. But really, I would have been happy to just read By Fire, the story, and forget about the other critical-context bits. I can look those up on my own.

By Fire by Tahar Ben Jelloun went on sale June 15, 2016.

I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[André · Rating 5 out of 5]

Citaat : C'était un matin de décembre ensoleillé. un 17 décembre. Dans sa tête beau-coup d'images se précipitèrent dans une grande confusion : sa mère alitée, son père dans le cercueil, lui à la faculté des lettres, Zineb souriante, Zineb en colère, Zineb le suppliant de ne rien faire, sa mère qui se lève et le réclame; le visage de la femme qui l'a giflé; qui le gifle de nouveau; son corps penché en avant comme s'il se donnait à un bourreau;
Review : Dit kleine boekje (50 p.) is geschreven door Tahar Ben Jelloun zoals alleen hij het kan schrijven als eerbetoon aan Mohamed Bouazizi. Hij was de jonge Tunesiër die zichzelf in brand stak op 17 december 2010 en zo de aftrap gaf voor de revolte van miljoenen onderdrukte Arabische mensen. Tahar maakte van Mohamed Bouazizi heel even een romanfiguur om beter in zijn huid te kunnen kruipen en hem uit het isolement van die zelfverbranding te halen. Zelfdoding hoort niet thuis in de Arabische cultuur en is ook door de islam verboden. Daarom tracht de auteur ook te doorgronden wat deze jongeman die zijn weg zocht in het leven aangezet heeft tot deze onom-keerbare daad.



De auteur schrijft dan ook in zijn conclusie: "Het verhaal van Mohamed is dat van niemand in het bijzonder, het is het verhaal van een eenvoudige man, zoals er miljoenen mensen zijn die worden verpletterd. Alleen stak hij uit protest tegen deze onmenselijke vernederdering zijn li-chaam in brand en dit was de vonk die zou leiden tot een ongekend zuiverend vuur dat hopelijk een betere toekomst brengt voor de gewone Tunesische man!

[çeviriyedair · Rating 5 out of 5]

La fin de la tolérance du peuple tunisien à l'égard du régime oppressif, de l'injustice et de la pauvreté a été réalisée lorsque Mohamed Bouazizi s'est immolé par le feu dans une rue en 2010 après que sa charrette a été confisquée en raison de son refus de corrompre la police. À l'époque, j'étais un enfant qui allait à l'école secondaire. Cette mort douloureuse, qui a provoqué le printemps arabe, a été diffusée dans le monde entier à la télévision. Mohamed Bouazizi avait quelque chose à montrer au monde et il n'a pas trouvé d'autre moyen de l'exprimer. Qu'il repose au paradis. Je suis sincèrement reconnaissant à l'auteur d'avoir abordé la vie d'une personne aussi importante, même si elle est mêlée à la fiction. Et à la fin, la réponse de l'auteur à ceux qui ont essayé d'exploiter même la mort de Bouazizi était vraiment précieuse.

[Tiziano Brignoli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una sorta di breve "autobiografia" romanzata di Mohamed Bouazizi, che dandosi fuoco ha dato luce alle primavere arabe.
Molto bello. Non sono così sicuro di ciò che viene scritto alla fine in riferimento alla Siria: "Ciò che ne uscirà sarà comunque meglio di questo regime ereditato di padre in figlio." Considerando che ne è uscito fuori l'Isis... Ma è un libro scritto nel 2011. Comprensibile.
Lo farei leggere a quelle persone che condannano globalmente il mondo islamico come un mondo radicale, senza valori. Io rispondo con le parole: "Siamo tutti Mohamed!"

[Stacey Neve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating. A collection of translated works, fiction and nonfiction, about the Arab Spring, focusing on its origins in Tunisia. I particularly liked the novella about the street vendor whose suicide set off the protests. It moves toward the climax with a ruthless efficiency and you're likely to read that part in a single sitting because it's hard to stop.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful novella about man who self immolated in response to corruption and exploitation by Tunisian police and petty officials. Supposedly the start of the Arab Spring, specifically Tunisia's toppling of their king. After having read Ben Jelloun's other novel, have to wonder at the spiteful woman police--seems to add additional degradation for the author.

[عبدالرحمن · Rating 5 out of 5]

“La storia di Mohamed non appartiene a nessuno; è la storia di un uomo sem-plice, come ce ne sono a milioni, che, a forza di essere schiacciato, umiliato, negato alla sua vita, è diventato la scintilla che infiamma il mondo.
Mai nessuno gli ruberà la sua morte.”

[Deborah Hauser · Rating 5 out of 5]

A riveting, fictional account of the Arab Spring. A masterful translation by Dr Nezami.

[Lauren Herzfeld · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[a.g.e. montagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nell’epoca degli Hunger Games della finanza transnazionale, in cui l’erosione dei diritti e delle libertà dei cittadini viene offerta docilmente in pegno da intere economie, è stata e continua ad essere una fonte di sorpresa per molti che le più imponenti manifestazioni popolari degli ultimi anni abbiano avuto luogo in paesi arabi retti da regimi autoritari, piuttosto che nelle democrazie occidentali: Tunisia, Egitto, Libia, Siria.

La verità è che la protesta popolare covava da tempo sotto la cenere in quei paesi, ed è bastata una scintilla per incendiarla. Tahar Ben Jelloun, scrittore marocchino residente a Parigi, fornisce un resoconto di quella scintilla iniziale in questo testo agile, pubblicato da Gallimard nel primo anniversario della primavera araba. Il fuoco del titolo è quello della foto di copertina: “Mohamed Bouazizi si dà fuoco nella piazza di Sidi Bouzid, 17 dicembre 2010”. Il gesto di estrema, disperata protesta personale fu la fine dell’inizio degli eventi della primavera araba. Jelloun evita ogni retorica, e piuttosto che dilungarsi su vicende universalmente note preferisce raccontare quello che le ha precedute: gli ultimi giorni di vita del tunisino Bouazizi, le cause dell’irrimediabile epilogo.

Alla morte del padre, Mohamed si ritrova, in quanto primogenito, a dover provvedere alla famiglia: cinque tra fratelli e sorelle minori, oltre alla madre diabetica. È laureato in storia ma non ha mai ottenuto un impiego, nonostante le numerose proteste davanti al ministero dell’economia. Il giorno stesso del funerale, brucia il suo diploma. Deluso, scoraggiato, è costretto a riprendere il carretto della frutta che era stato del padre. Studi, sacrifici, speranze di ascesa sociale sono stati inutili: la povertà è una condanna, e la vita di Mohamed diventa una serie di rinunce ed espedienti quotidiani.
E questi non sono nemmeno i suoi problemi peggiori. Ben più gravi sono le continue vessazioni che il giovane è costretto a subire da parte della polizia. Viene tormentato dagli agenti perché si rifiuta (oltre a non potersi permettere) di corromperli, e fa orecchie da mercante al velato suggerimento di diventare informatore. È quindi forzato a “fare il mercante ambulante, dato che tutte le buone posizioni erano occupate da coloro che collaboravano con la polizia”. Gli abusi si ripetono, tra insulti e continue intimazioni a spostarsi altrove; fino ad una confisca del carretto totalmente arbitraria. Mohamed protesta al commissariato e chiede di esser ricevuto dal sindaco, inutilmente. Si convince allora di avere una sola opzione: “Se avessi un’arma, la scaricherei tutta su questi stronzi. Non ho armi, ma ho ancora il mio corpo, la mia vita, la mia fottuta vita… è questa la mia arma…”

Raccontando di Bouazizi, Jelloun ritrae con una prosa asciutta e senza sbavature la vita dei tunisini sotto il regime di Ben Ali: soprusi e prepotenze di politici e polizia da una parte, e dall’altra l’estrema povertà, ma anche la solidarietà della gente comune. La polizia in borghese è ovunque, lo spionaggio capillare: non appena Mohamed interrompe i contatti con il gruppo dei laureati disoccupati (probabilmente infiltrato o comunque controllato), riceve una visita dalle forze dell’ordine; subito dopo aver incontrato di nuovo uno dei vecchi compagni di lotta, viene interrogato e picchiato. Spesso Jelloun lascia parlare i fatti: “A casa, la vecchia televisione era accesa. Una trasmissione stava celebrando i trent’anni di regno del Presidente della Repubblica”. A tratti la ricostruzione ricorre ad un simbolismo poetico di grande efficacia: nel corso di una retata contro un gruppo di giovani venditori ambulanti, un dvd di Spartacus “finisce spiaccicato sotto le ruote del furgoncino”.

E celebrando Bouazizi, uno studente di storia che ha fatto la Storia solo dopo aver bruciato il proprio diploma, Jelloun ci ricorda che che c’è ben altro che dovremmo importare dal continente africano piuttosto che gli anticicloni e il petrolio libico.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Qui dans ce monde injuste ne connaît pas le sentiment d'être écrabouillé sous les roues de "la justice"? Bien entendu, la situation pourrait être mieux ou pire, dépendant du pays; mail il ne faut pas un long livre pour raconter cette histoire, parce que ce n'est pas vraiment un histoire dans ces pages, c'est un sentiment. C'est le sentiment d'être impuissant face aux pouvoirs qui te dirige, de ne pas pouvoir gagner de quoi faire vivre, pour toi-même aussi bien que pour ta famille, de ne rien importer. C'est un sentiment commun en chaque partie du monde et M. Ben Jelloun souligne cette communauté en ne pas donnant beaucoup de détails. On sait bien de quoi il s'agit dans ce bouquin, mais le plupart des particuliers sont effacés pour qu'on puisse se mettre purement dans l'esprit de Mohamed. Oui, c'est un tunisien, mais mutatis mutandis il pourrait être moi, ou mon voisin, ou un membre de ma famille. Et là se trouve le pouvoir de ce court récit.

[Fernando · Rating 5 out of 5]

From my Instagram account @onebookonecountry

#Morocco

One man. His frustration. A match. A spark. Flames. Revolution.

We all know what happened after Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in Tunisia, but Moroccan author #TaharBenJelloun tried to imagine what happened to this street vendor immediately before he set off a fire that consumed not only himself and his country, but also the entire region.

Bouazizi's story belongs to no one yet represents every simple man's frustrations living under repressive regimes in this region of the world. In "Par le Feu" Ben Jelloun expertly captures the spirit of the time in fictionalizing the days before Bouazizi's final act of desperation and leaves behind a touching account of an ordinary Arabic man's rough reality.

This edition is by @editions_gallimard
#gallimard

More African books in #onebookAfrica
More Arabic books in #onebookArabic
More Moroccan books in #onebookMorocco

#AfricanWriters #AfricanLiterature #MorrocanLiterature #LiteraturaAfricana #AfricanAuthors #LitteratureAfricaine #bookstagramAfrica #AfricanBooksReview #Marocain #Morrocan #Maroc #CultureAfricaine #CulturaAfricana #AfricanCulture #ArabSpring #SelfImmolation #ReadTheWorld #ArabicLiterature
#ليبيا #الأدبالليبي #المؤلفينالعرب #ليبي #الأدب #عربى

[Arielle Silver · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short story (in French) imagines the final days of real-life Mohamed Bouazizi, who was a fruit vender in Tunisia. In this fictionalized account, Bouazizi struggles to support his family as he grapples with class inequality, poverty, and religious oppression. His sanity slowly unravels as he encounters hardship upon hardship, leading to the climax of the book in which he sets himself on fire in front of the city hall. This real-life event sparked revolutions across the region, now known as the Arab Spring. In the book, Bouazizi is martyred by his generation-in-struggle, while the upper class politicians simply disappear from the difficulties, and the press attempts to capitalize on the event of his death. Ben Jelloun's writing is plain and unsentimental, which allows Bouazizi's struggles to stand powerfully stark. Although the writer has taken liberty with some of the facts of the real Mohamed Bouazizi's life, this short piece is a cultural eye-opener to those of interested in understanding the social inequality that ignited the Tunisian revolution and the wave of uprisings that took place in the Arab League countries between Dec. 2010 and mid-2012.

[World Literature Today]

"In By Fire, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Moroccan intellectual and one of the most acclaimed novelists writing in French today, attempts to creatively rescue from the ashes Mohamed Bouazizi, the self-immolating fruit vendor credited with igniting the Tunisian revolt. Together, the nonfiction and fiction sections complement one another in telling the humiliating life story of our desperate protagonist, from the inside and out, with plainspoken and urgent prose." - Yahia Lababidi

This book was reviewed in the September/October 2016 issue of World Literature Today magazine. Read the full review by visiting our website:

http://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2...

[GONZA · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fictional story that could as well be the real one of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia, the man that set himself on fire and obliged the Tunisian President Ben Ali to fled abroad. I would have loved to know about what happened later, but ok, there's wikipedia....

La storia romanzata di Mohamed Bouazizi, cittadino tunisimo che all'ennesima vessazione si da fuoco davanti al comune di Sidi Bouizid iniziando le proteste che porteranno alla "Primavera araba tunisina" ed alla destituzione del presidente Ben Ali. Mi sarebbe piaciuto sapere di piú su quanto successo in seguito, ma ok, c'é sempre wikipedia....

THANKS TO NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

[Stephen Durrant · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Tunisian revolution, as we all know, was touched off in December 2010 by the suicide by fire of Mohammed Bouazizi. In this powerful novelette, the Moroccan writer Ben Jelloun imagines the humiliation and despair that might have led up to such a desperate act. This is a simple and successful attempt to explain how a little man victimized by a corrupt system can finally take action. And who could have known that the monumental events of the "Arab Spring" would follow? The novelette is a tribute to one man's small revolt penned by one of North Africans best writers.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un très court roman qui décrit les derniers mois de la vie de Mohamed Bouazizi qui s'est immolé par le feu en décembre 2010. Un jeune homme comme les autres, qui travaille fort pour faire vivre sa famille suite au décès de son père mais qui rencontre obstacles après obstacles dans une Tunisie corrompue. Sa mort déclenche la révolution de jasmin. Simple, poignant et révélateur.

[Manika · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5
Mohamed Bouazizi s'immole par le feu parce qu'il n'avait pas d'autre arme. court récit qui relate ses derniers jours avant l'acte. récit percutant sur condition de pauvre, le désespoir et ou est-ce que cela peut conduire.

[Véronique]

Triste. Très triste.

[Susie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trop court! Ben Jelloun ne passe par quatre chemin. Le livre décrit de façon sobre et terre à terre la vie misérable et les méchancetés humaines qui amène un homme à s'immoler.

[Simone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ben scritto, ma le storie vere romanzate non mi piacciono. Sono pericolose. E poi è troppo corto. Più che un libro è una sveltina.

[Juliette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bref, réaliste et poétique. Comme décrit dans le résumé.
J'y ajouterais : Poignant, juste et bouleversant

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

You can read my review here:

https://burninghousepress.com/2016/08...

[C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting theme. Beautifully written. To bad the story didn't end with a happy ending. Reality is harsh but it is reality... I DO RECOMMEND IT