"Livre de contes et de rêves. Roman philosophique, incantation, poème de l'amour fou et du désir, critique de la morale traditionnelle, comme l'écrit J.-M. G. Le Clézio qui ajoute: "Sur le thème ancien de l'hermaphrodite, lié aux mythes et aux religions de la Méditerranée, T. Ben Jelloun nous lance dans une aventure [...] qui semble sortie tout droit des ##Mille et une nuits##". La suite du roman a pour titre ##La nuit sacrée##."
"Belletristik : Marokko ; Frau - Islam."
"Determined to have a son after seven daughters, Hajji Ahmed names his eighth child Mohammed Ahmed, but as this child matures, she explores her true sexual identity as a woman named Zahra."
""L'Enfant de sable (1985) se situe d'emblée dans l'espace réservé au conte : la place Jamâ-El-Fnâ de Marrakech. On y raconte l'histoire d'Ahmed, né Zahra, qui par miracle échappe au sort humiliant de la femme qu'il est originellement. Ahmed est en effet la huitième fille d'un père qui le décrète "mâle" pour mettre fin à la fatalité qui le poursuit. La vie de l'enfant est d'abord minutieusement organisée par son père qui pousse la supercherie jusqu'à célébrer un simulacre de circoncision. Ahmed semble accepter sa transfiguration et évacuer la féminité de son corps. Il se marie avec sa cousine. Cependant, contrairement à ses prévisions, celle-ci se révèle avertie de la simulation. Inspiré d'un fait divers authentique, ce roman raconte la vie d'Ahmed, huitième fille d'un couple qui, sans héritier mâle, décide d'élever celle-ci comme un garçon. Découvrant peu à peu dans le trouble et l'incertitude ce qui est dissimulé aux yeux de tous, Ahmed choisit d'assumer la révolte de son père, de vivre en homme et d'épouser une fille délaissée, bientôt sa complice dans une vertigineuse descente aux enfers du mensonge social le plus fou. Après la mort du père puis celle de l'épouse, la narration bifurque. Plusieurs versions sont avancées par les conteurs qui, tous, prétendent être les témoins de l'histoire. Quel que soit le narrateur, le devenir de l'homme-femme débouche toujours sur un parcours chaotique. Le drame devient d'autant plus intense qu'Ahmed semble redécouvrir son corps qui parle contre le masque et met le simulacre en procès. Ses certitudes s'effritent. Parallèlement le conteur qui se disait investi de l'histoire est évacué par d'autres conteurs prétendant également être les héritiers du livre où l'histoire est consignée. La narration éclate dans une surenchère de conteurs et de voix en rivalité."--Http://www.bibliomonde.net (April 18, 2011)."
"Alors que naît sa huitième fille, le père décide de faire croire à tout le monde qu'il s'agit d'un garçon et la nomme Ahmed. Élevé comme l'héritier, Ahmed accède à des privilèges que n'ont pas ses soeurs. Prix Goncourt 1987."
"Livre de contes et de rêves. Roman philosophique, incantation, poème de l'amour fou et du désir, critique de la morale traditionnelle, comme l'écrit J.-M. G. Le Clézio (dans ##Le Monde## du 6 septembre 1985, p. 13) qui ajoute: "Sur le thème ancien de l'hermaphrodité, lié aux mythes et aux religions de la Méditerrannée, T. Ben Jelloun nous lance dans une aventure [...] qui semble sortie tout droit des ##Mille et une nuits##"."
"In this lyrical, hallucinatory novel set in Morocco, Tahar Ben Jelloun offers an imaginative and radical critique of contemporary Arab social customs and Islamic law. The Sand Child tells the story of a Moroccan father's effort to thwart the consequences of Islam's inheritance laws regarding female offspring. Already the father of seven daughters, Hajji Ahmed determines that his eighth child will be a male. Accordingly, the infant, a girl, is named Mohammed Ahmed and raised as a young man with all the privileges granted exclusively to men in traditional Arab-Islamic societies. As she matures, however, Ahmed's desire to have children marks the beginning of her sexual evolution, and as a woman named Zahra, Ahmed begins to explore her true sexual identity. Drawing on the rich Arabic oral tradition, Ben Jelloun relates the extraordinary events of Ahmed's life through a professional storyteller and the listeners who have gathered in a Marrakesh market square in the 1950s to hear his tale."
"Een Marokkaan verlangt zo naar een zoon dat hij zijn achtste dochter opvoedt als jongen."
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