By Fire: Writings on the Arab Spring

By Fire (Par le feu)

By Fire is the first work of fiction on the Arab Spring. Ben Jelloun wrote this novella within a few months; I understood why there was such urgency. The spectacle of the Arab Spring spread worldwide as it happened. Every time a protester on Tahrir Square screamed, there was not a corner of the world where it could not be heard. News of Bouazizi’s self-immolation went viral in moments, and the event demanded immediate attention, coverage, and contemplation. Ben Jelloun was so moved that he decided to fictionalize Bouazizi’s last days. “I saw him on his bed like a white mummy and thought to myself: ‘This man had a life, a youth, a failed love affair, disappointments.’ I wanted to return his humanity to him,” Ben Jelloun told Deutsche Welle (Thomas 2011). To return dignity and humanity to the young man, Ben Jelloun’s ethical responsibility led him to create Bouazizi’s double.

So why write a story that looks so much like the historical event itself? Why call his protagonist Mohamed? Is it because fiction can do what nonfiction often cannot, namely, reach readers at a deeper level and appeal more to their emotions? In fiction, the historical Bouazizi’s face no longer remains just another anonymous face in the crowd. Instead, he becomes a multidimensional character: a son, a brother, a lover, and a marginal subject who takes a radically self-destructive action. Ben Jelloun wanted to capture this critical moment in the life of an individual to show what kind of suffering can lead to suicide.

In September 2013, Ben Jelloun shared some of his thoughts about By Fire with Deborah Treisman, fiction editor of the New Yorker in “This Week in Fiction: Tahar Ben Jelloun”:

I had written articles and an essay attempting to explain the roots of this “Spring.” But those pieces were missing a literary perspective, a fictional perspective that could depart from the raw facts. I needed to express, as a novelist, what I, as an observer and a citizen, was thinking. I’m sure that literature — fiction — has the ability to reach readers more effectively than any television news report. I focused on Mohamed’s story, I closed my eyes, I saw it, and I wrote it. Beyond the specific situation in Tunisia, Mohamed Bouazizi became a valuable symbol for all cultures and all countries in pursuit of dignity. (Treisman 2013)

Ben Jelloun spoke directly to the problem of the tension between the novelist and the historian: “I was faithful to the profound meaning of Mohamed Bouazizi’s terrible act. But I also did my job as a novelist. I imagined his circle, his behavior, his actions. I kept it universal even as I was very tied to the specifics. I think that many people reading this story will recognize themselves in this character or identify with him” (Treisman 2013). By Fire depicts universal themes. Reading By Fire along with The Spark will help readers understand and even identify with Mohamed’s character based on Bouazizi’s real life. The Spark helps us understand the historical figure’s experience in a corrupt, dictatorial regime.