Le migrant et le nomade : frères jumeaux ou frères ennemis ? Reading and discussion with the French-Moroccan writer YOUSSOUF AMINE ELALAMY
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Plakat zu Lesung und Gespräch mit Youssouf Amine Elalamy "Le migrant et le nomade: frères jumeaux ou frères ennemis?" am 4. Oktober 2021.
The French-Moroccan author Youssouf Amine Elalamy spoke about his work and presented his latest novel C'est beau, la guerre (2019), published by French publisher Au Diable Vauvert. The main theme is illegal migration in the Mediterranean region - a topic that was already addressed in his work Les clandestins (2000).
The author discussed with
Dr. Juliane Tauchnitz (University of Leipzig),
PD Dr. Beatrice Schuchardt (TU Dresden) and
Prof. Dr. Karen Struve (University of Bremen).
The reading took place online in French on October 4, 2021.
This event took place as part of the section Axes and Spectres of Migration in Romance Literatures and Visual Media of the 21st Century at the XXXVII Romance Studies Conference and was organized in cooperation with the German Romance Studies Association, the Institut français Leipzig, the Institut français Dresden and the Institut français Rabat, the Frankreichzentrum of the University of Leipzig and the Centrum Frankreich/Frankophonie of the TU Dresden.
About the author
Youssouf Amine Elalamy was born in Larache, Morocco, in 1961. He holds a doctorate in communication sciences and has published numerous articles on art, photography, fashion and advertising in Germany and abroad. In 1991, he went to New York on a Fulbright scholarship and returned to his home country three years later. He currently teaches as a professor of stylistics, communication and media at Ibn Tofaï University in Kenitra.
About the novel
The main theme of the novel is illegal migration in the Mediterranean region - a topic that was already dealt with in his work Les clandestins (2000).
Forced to flee his country to escape war and dictatorship, a young theater actor boards a tiny boat with other refugees. In order to reach the other shore, he must first endure another battle, this one against the sea. After a long sea voyage that ends on a crowded vacation beach, he finally finds himself in a refugee camp with other fellow sufferers. There he realizes that all the women around him have lost someone: a husband, a lover, a son, a brother, a father. To ease their pain, he decides to help them by slipping day by day into the role of a loved one who has died.
The novel is currently only available in French.
It was awarded the Prix Orange du Livre Afrique in 2020.
