Tahar Ouatar in Few Lines

موضوع: Tahar Ouatar in Few Lines 2010-03-14, 19:18

Tahar Ouatar in Few Lines

Biography

· In 1936, in a rural environment and from a Berber family of the Haratka tribe which lives in the foothills of the Aures and which according to Ibn Khaldoun is the result of the intermingling of Arabs and Berbers, Tahar Ouettar was born after three children lost by his mother. He was the spoiled child of a big family led by a grandfather who had four wives, each gave birth to many men who have also wives and children.

· The grandfather was illiterate but with a strong social presence. He was the Hajji any passer-by would look for in order to have shelter and food. He was the elder of the clan from whom they seek justice. He was also the permanent opponent to the representatives of the French authority. He was the one who opened a school to teach the Koran free of charge. He was the one who lit the fire in Ramadan to inform people who did not hear his grandson’s adhan of the time to break fast.

· Tahar Ouettar says that he inherited generosity and pride from his grandfather, asceticism, contentment and modesty from his father, ambition and sensibility from his mother, love of art and glamour from his maternal uncle who squandered all he inherited from his father.

· Because of his father’s modest position, Tahar traveled to many areas until he settled in Medaourouch, a village 20 km far from his birthplace.

· There, he discovered another society, with strange clothes, language and way of life. He went into contemplation while learning or teaching the holy Koran.

· He was one of the best students in the Ulemas Association’s school that was opened in 1950.

· His father sent him to Constantine in 1952 to study jurisprudence in the Imam Abdelhamid Ibn Badis Institute.

· He became aware that there is another culture parallel to jurisprudence and Islamic law (Sharia) sciences. He discovered literature devouring in less than a year anything he received of works of Jibran Khalil Jibran, Mikhail Nouaïma, Zaki Mubarak, Taha Hussein, Al Rafi’i, One thousand Nights and a Night and Kalila and Dimna.

· Tahar Ouettar says, in this regard: “ modernity was my destiny. No one imposed it on me”

· In the early fifties, he was in contact with schools in Egypt and studied journalism and cinema

· In 1954, he went, in a personal adventure, to Tunis and studied for a while in Al Zeïtouna.

· In 1956, he joined the National Liberation Front (FLN) and stayed a militant up to 1984.

· In 1955, he got acquainted with a new literature, that of epic narration, he read many novels, short stories and Arabic and translated plays. He published short stories in the Tunisian Al Sabah and Al Aamal daily newspapers, in the Liwa’u al Barlaman at-tunissi (the standard of the Tunisian Parliament), and Al Nida weeklies and Al fikr magazine.

· He was attracted by the Marxist ideology and adopted it but concealed it from the National Liberation Front although he used to write within its framework..

· He worked in the Tunisian journalism: Liwa’u Al Barlaman At-tunissi which he participated in its creation, the daily newspaper Al Sabah and he learned printing.

· He founded in 1962 in Constantine the first weekly in the independent Algeria called Al Ahrar

· In 1963, he founded in Algiers Al Jamahir weekly that the authorities stopped in its turn.

· In 1973, he founded Al-Shaab cultural weekly, which belongs to Al-Shaab daily newspaper. The authorities stopped it in 1974 because he tried to make it a forum for the leftist intellectuals.

· In 1990, he founded Al-Tabyiin and Al- Qasida magazines (still published today).

· From 1963 to 1984, he was in the National Liberation Front party as a member of the national commission for information alongside many personalities such as Mohammed Harbi, then, a national inspector until he was made to take retirement at the age of 47.

· He was a secret opponent to the 1965 coup up to late eighties.

· 1991 – 1992, he was general director of Algerian national radio.

· He refused the cancellation of the 1992 elections and was against sending thousands of young men to detention camps in the Sahara without trial. For this stand, he was attacked and marginalised.

· He devoted his life to voluntary cultural action. He presides and manages the cultural association Al Jahidia since 1989. Before that, he turned his house into a place for intellectuals to meet once a month.

Publications:

Short Stories:

1. Dukhan fi Qalbi (A Smoke in my Heart). Tunis 1961, Algiers 1979, 2005

2. At-Taana:t (the blows) Algiers, 1971, 2005

3. Al Shuhada’ ya`udun hadha al usbu` (The Martyrs Return This Week) Iraq 1974, Algiers 1984, 2005 (translated)

Plays:

1. `ala addifati al ukhra (On The Other Shore). Al Fikr magazine Tunis, late fifties.

2. Al harib (The Fugitive) Al Fikr magazine Tunis, late fifties. Algiers 1971, 2005

Novels:

1. Al Laz (The Ace) Algiers 1974, Beirut 1982, 1983, Israel 1977, Algiers 1981, 2005 (translated

2. Al zilzal (The Earthquake) Beirut 1974, Algiers 1981, 2005 (translated)

3. Al hawwat wa al qasr (the Fisherman and the Palace) Algiers, Al-Shaab daily newspaper 1974 and at the expense of the author in 1978, Egypt 1987 and Algiers 2005 (translated)

4. Ars baghl (The Wedding of a Mule) Beirut, many editions from 1983, Cairo 1988, Akka, Algiers 1981, 2005 (translated)

5. Al Ushq wa Al Mawt fi Al Zaman Al Harachi (Love and Death in the Harrachi Time) Beirut 1982, 1983, Algiers 2005

6. Tajriba fi Al Ushq (A Love Experience) Beirut 1989, Algiers 1989, 2005

7. Rommana . Algiers 1971, 1981, 2005

8. Al sham`aa wa al Dahaliz (The Candle and the Corridors) Algiers 1995, 2005, Cairo 1995, Jordan 1996, Germany Dar Al Jamal 2001

9. Al Waliyu al Tahar ya`udu ila maqamihi al zakiy (Saint Tahir returns to his holy shrine) Algiers 1999, 2004, Morocco 1999, Germany Dar El Jamal 2001 (translated)

10. Al Waliyu al Tahar yarfa`u yadahu bi-du`aa (The Holy Man Prays) Algiers, Al Khabar daily newspaper 2005, Cairo, Akhbar Al Adab 2005, Israel Masharif magazine 2005.

Translations:

1. A translation of a collection of poems by Francis Combe (Appentis du printemps) Algiers 1986

Scenario:

Contributions in many scenarios of Algerian films

Adaptations:

1. The story of Noua taken from Dukhan fi Qalbi (A Smoke in my Heart) was adapted to a film, produced by the Algerian Television, and had many awards.

2. The story Al shuhada:’ ya`udun hadha al usbu` (the Martyrs Return This Week) was adapted to a play which was awarded the first prize in Carthage festival

3. Al Harib play was performed in Morocco and in Tunisia

Languages translated into:

French, English, German, Russian, Italian, Bulgarian, Greek, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Hebrew, Ukrainian, ...etc

University Interest:

The works of Tahar Ouatar are studied in various universities around the world. His works were the subject, at different levels, of many theses.

Visits and Travel:

France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Bulgaria, the former Soviet Union and most of its Republics, Cuba, India, Angola, All Arab countries except Sudan, Oman and Mauritania.

Tahar Ouatar’s Themes:

· He says that his main concern is to reach the extreme limit that can be reached by the bourgeoisie in sacrifice as leader of the big changes in the world.

·

· He says that he is heritage. For as Pablo Neruda may come into his mind so is Al Mutanabi or Al Shanfara

· He also says: “I am an oriental. I have my own rites in many aspects of life, and hence, the creeds of the believers should be resp

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