Tahar Ben Jelloun film buff through his writings

Abstract

The article will examine the systematic appeal of cinema in the writing of Ben Jelloun. Whether autobiographical or purely fictional, the work of the Prix Goncourt winner is rich with references to cinema and its professions, which not only enrich the reading experience but also provide deeper insight. Generic distancing, legitimate on a semiotic level, is a notion the author revisits. The reference to cinema is omnipresent in his work—whether as a form of memory, with its share of situational comparisons and recollections, or as a spectacle in a projection room; alternatively, it appears in the form of citation. In the latter case, incorporating a film into a novel or short story inevitably creates generic distancing. However, paradoxically, it also introduces into the text a substitute universe that carries a pseudo-reality, with contours more or less identical to those experienced by Jellounian characters.