Occupation: public writer. According to the title of his autobiographical narrative, L’Ecrivain public (The Public Writer) (a title that bridges the tension between the solitary act of writing and its social importance), this is probably what Tahar Ben Jelloun would answer when asked what he does for a living, though “storyteller (-writer)”, in the tradition of the story-telling vagrants captivating their audience at the Djemaa el Fna square in Marrakech (Morocco) on market days, or “poet”, would be suitable too. He could also say ‘psychotherapist’, after being awarded his doctorate in social psychiatry. But writing, a necessity as well as a source of suffering, is his single most enduring pursuit:
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Citation: Hafez-Ergaut, Agnes. "Tahar Ben Jelloun". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 March 2012 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12331, accessed 25 April 2024.]
