‚Témoin actif‘ und ‚traducteur de l’invisible‘. Tahar Ben Jellouns Konzept der literarischen Intervention im ‚Arabischen Frühling‘

Abstract

The present article explains the concept of literary intervention of the Moroccan author Tahar Ben Jelloun developed during the Arabic spring. According to his conception of literary engagement the author’s main functions consist on the one hand in translating an invisible and unspoken truth and on the other hand in bearing witness. The analysis of his short fictional account Par le feu (By Fire) paying tribute to Mohamed Bouazizi focuses on these two principles that explain the amalgamation of a fictional and an analytical style. It is especially the function of the translator of the invisible that associates his aesthetical approach with a typical Arabic narrative going beyond the traditional occidental form of literary engagement.