This Blinding Absence of Light

Tahar Ben Jelloun

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English

Penguin
28 October 2005

Fiction & Literature; Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945); Fiction in translation

An astonishing novel of endurance and survival that won the 2004 IMPAC Award.

In this extraordinary non-fiction novel, based on a true story, Tahar Ben Jelloun traces the experiences of Salim who, in 1971, took part in a failed coup attempt to oust King Hassan II of Morocco. With sixty others Salim was incarcerated in a secret prison complex in the Moroccan desert- he was to remain there for nearly twenty years.

In starkly eloquent, beautiful prose, Ben Jelloun relates the prisoners' experiences as they struggle to survive. The son of a witty, feckless courtier who disowns him, Salim tells stories to keep sane - from the suras of his beloved Koran to the plot of A Streetcar Named Desire. Even in the darkest, most terrible conditions, sympathy, insight, the human quest for meaning and understanding, never desert Salim. The resulting novel is a wrenching yet exquisite celebration of the human spirit and its determination to survive.

'A masterpiece' Judges of the IMPAC award

'a sad and splendid book' New York Times Book Review

By: Tahar Ben Jelloun
Imprint: Penguin
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 130mm, Spine: 14mm
Weight: 153g
ISBN: 9780141022826
ISBN 10: 0141022825
Pages: 208
Publication Date: 28 October 2005
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Tahar Ben Jelloun was born in 1944 in Fez, Morocco, and emigrated to France in 1961. He is one of North Africa's foremost novelists. Tahar Ben Jelloun's novels include The Sacred Night which received the Prix Goncourt in 1987 and Corruption.