Courtesy of DSC Jaipur Literature Festival 2013 Tahar Ben Jelloun.Tahar Ben Jelloun is a Moroccan-born poet and novelist who writes in French and lives in Paris. His book “Racism, as Explained to My Daughter,†was translated into Hindi and Urdu. The award-winning writer first visited India 20 years ago, and he plans to write about what has changed in India since then. He spoke to India Ink during the Jaipur Literature Festival through a French translator.
What are the occupational hazards of being a writer
The intolerance, which can entail violence, the ideas that do not get conveyed, people who can’t tolerate new thoughts. The isks are higher in the southern countries than in the Western countries. A European writer risks almost nothing. In that sense, Rushdie is rather an Indian writer.
How do you deal with critics
Everyone is doing their job. I write; critics critique. I don’t respond, but most of the time the critics write good reviews about me.
What is your everyday writing ritual
I cannot write without a good Italian espresso!
Why should we read your latest book
I love love and I hate marriage. “Marital Happiness†is the story of a conjugal catastrophe set in Morocco. A very famous painter can’t paint anymore after he meets with an accident. He blames his wife for the accident. He thinks everything bad happening to him is because of her. The novel is divided into two parts. In the first half, the painter tell! s his story; in the second half, his wife responds to him. (The novel has been translated into 10 languages, but not yet English. )
Why does the Jaipur Literature Festival matter to you
My work has been translated into Indian languages for a long time. So it was natural for me to come here. And this festival is very well respected abroad.
When I first came to India, I discovered racism was universal. I spoke to a school child in north India and asked him if he was Muslim. The child was uncomfortable accepting it.
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