The Writing of Intimacy in Fragments… d’Enfance by Bernoussi Saltani

Abstract

This contribution will analyze the writing of intimacy in Bernoussi Saltani’s Fragments… d’enfance. It will begin by evoking the story of childhood through the life of a narrator-author. The narrator recalls memories marked by painful ordeals, but also by moments of joy. By bringing childhood back to life, a whole section of Moroccan history is rehabilitated. By alternating between different registers, the narrator-author takes the reader on a journey to his most intimate place, his inner life. It also reveals a series of trials that the narrator has undergone, trials that have made him an open-minded man. Although painful, these trials have nonetheless contributed to his maturity, which is reflected in his quest for humanism. The narrator also problematizes the notion of racism, which begins in small society (the family) and reaches out to big society. He calls into question political and social racism, while appealing to a politics of love and hospitality by recalling the cohabitation of different cultures throughout history. Understanding the present depends on understanding the past. As a song of orality, Saltani’s narrative-remembrance-nostalgia is a hymn to love for the other. His writing, tinged with humor and irony, favors a reflective and anecdotal aesthetic, encouraging the reader to reflect on the world from the experience of intimacy.