Wednesday's Read: This Blinding Absence of Light

Ben Jalloun, Tahrar. This Blinding Absence of Light. (New York: Penguin, 2006)


Tahar ben Jalloun’s This Blinding Absence of Light (original Cette aveuglante absence de lumière, translated Linda Coverdale, 2006) is a wrenching, painful novel, the reflections of narrator Salim, sentenced to 18-years imprisonment in solitary confinement for his participation in a coup attempt on King Hassan II of Morocco in 1971. Salim cannot stand up in his cell and is fed only water and foul bread, but he keeps his focus and resiliency through constant prayer and meditation. Only able to communicate with his despondent fellow prisoners through the walls, the intensity and enthusiasm of his single-minded faith offers them sustaining hope. Jalloun’s scattered, fragmented narrative is surprisingly affecting.