By Fire: Writings on the Arab Spring

Dr Nezami has done an invaluable work in bringing together all theseelements (fiction, French to English translation, scholarly analysis,historical context, etc) into one easy-to-read and yet deeplypenetrating and illuminating volume.The book also brings together the passionate work of two leadingintellectuals, both uniquely situated as insider-outsiders, whocomment and instruct on the so-called Arab Spring: Ben Jelloun isMoroccan and longtime resident of Paris and leading writer inFrancophone literature, while Nezami is world-citizen and leadingpost-colonial scholar who has lived, worked and researched around theworld.Highly recomended!

My professor is the one who translated this book and in all honesty its a must read book.

Dr. Nezami's translation of By Fire brings this important story to the English-speaking world with delicate sensitivity. Tahar Ben Jelloun is one of the most important authors in our time, and Nezami is a master at translating his work. This book is especially important for teachers and students who focus on global issues, but it is also riveting for any reader.

A riveting, fictional account of the Arab Spring. A masterful translation by Dr Nezami.

A literary account and a novelist point of view on the dramatic events at the end of 2010 and 2011 in Tunisia, Tahar Ben Jelloun's By Fire doesn't add new interpretations of the historical account. The two essays translated from French are aimed to multiply the memory of the so-called Jasmine Revolution, that started from the self-immolation act by the young unemployed graduate Mohamed Bouazizi.Unable to cope on his own with the injustices and corruption in the country, Bouazizi, harassed by the police for the only fault of trying to honestly gain his existence selling fruits from a cart in the market, decided to end his life in a symbolic way. By putting himself on fire he wanted to send a desperate message to the public. He died of his wounds a couple of days later, and his act made history, as president Ben Ali left the country following the revolt that spread all over the country.The death of Bouazizi, as well as the change of the corrupt president didn't change on the long term the situation of the country, but at least opened a window for hope. Of course, hope it is not enough to bring bread on the table but this might encourage change, both individual and at the society level. Bouazizi didn't have any hope any more hence his desperate act. Ben Jelloun recognizes that one single voice it is not enough: '(...) isolated voices can never bring down dictators; it took many incidents, clashes with the police, glaring injustices and intolerable acts for the spark to finally ignite'. The 'Arab Spring' was a hope not necessarily leading to dramatic changes, but literary minds and writers in general are always tempted to dream.However, the short essays are realistically written, more focused to describe facts and events than to make comments and projections. It offers important historical background and information not only for the novel reader, but also for anyone interested to have a short but comprehensive understanding on the 'Jasmine Revolution'.Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

The novella BY FIRE is a fictional account, by Tunisian Nobel Prize nominee Tahar Ben Jelloun, of real events that started the Arab Spring movement in 2011. The protagonist, Mohammed, is coined after a real character, Mohammed Bouazizi. The story, told in free indirect discourse, relates the last days of its anonymous anti-hero. It might be seen in parallel with Albert Camus' absurd hero and narrating strategy in "The Stranger"; interestingly, this shadow cast over Camus--a writer praised by Ben Jelloun--is hinted at in an opening quotation. This volume compiles the masterful English translation by Rita Nezami, her fully-developed scholarly introduction, and two helpful appendices, also translated by Nezami: Ben Jelloun's nonfictional study of the background ("The Spark") and a short pamphlet on the Tunisian Constitution. These two additions to the text constitute a very useful tool to "Reading and Teaching BY FIRE," as the author stresses it in her enlightening introduction (xxxv). As presented, the book, both fictional and rooted in historical reality, shows indeed a formidable opportunity for bringing this novella into the fields of global cultural studies and transnational social activism.

Every section of this powerful book adds layers of knowledge and texture of historical significance to the final and most important part of the book – the short story that brings to life the pain and suffering of Mohamed Bouazizi, whose final act of desperation marks the beginning of change for countless others. Beautifully and movingly translated, this book reminds us of the power of fiction against a backdrop of facts. While facts allow us to see a bird’s eye view of events, fiction allows us to live inside the human, seeing history from the ground level up. This book is a rare combination of the two—and is what makes it such an unusually poignant and moving tribute to humanity itself.