[In the following review, Salti argues that the publication of Poésie complète: 1966-1995 is “long-overdue” and speculates that, for Ben Jelloun, “poetry has always represented a medium of expression that no other literary genre can provide.”]

When Tahar Ben Jelloun became the first North African writer to win the prestigious Prix Goncourt in 1987 for his novel La Nuit sacrée, he was instantly hailed by the francophone world for overcoming boundaries that had thus far barred certain non-French writers from one of France's most prestigious literary prizes. Although that unprecedented literary honor did much to secure a place for Ben Jelloun among France's leading novelists, it seemed somehow to overshadow the vast body of poetic works that the Moroccan-born and -raised writer has regularly produced since the mid-sixties.

The long-overdue publication of the author's Poésie complète serves not only to reemphasize Ben Jelloun's prolific literary talent but also to highlight the literary genre which is dearest to the writer's heart. “A la poésie il nous faut toujours revenir,” he remarks in the introduction to the volume, a statement that sets the pace for his literary journey across three decades of constant poetic production, ending in France, where the poet currently resides.

With occasional exceptions where poems have been grouped thematically, Ben Jelloun's poetic oeuvre is presented here in chronological order. The opening chapter, “L'aube des dalles,” represents the point of departure for the young poet as he attempts to come to terms with the sense of chaos that reigned over his native country during the middle and late sixties. Composed in 1966-67 while Ben Jelloun was incarcerated for having participated in several demonstrations “pour la justice et la démocratie,” the poem is defined by a sense of self-admitted rage, fear, and naïveté vis-à-vis the political situation in his native country. “L'aube des dalles” is followed by fourteen chapters that illustrate the poet-turned-novelist's acquired mastery of various poetic skills, including “Cicatrices du soleil” and “Le discours du chameau,” two works that attempt to juxtapose Eastern and Western notions of identity, nationalism, and neopostcoloniality while drawing on distinctly Eastern imagery and mythical elements.

Also included in the collection are two of Ben Jelloun's post-Goncourt poems, La Remontée des cendres and Non identifiés. Written during and after the Gulf War, these two long poems were originally published in a bilingual French/Arabic edition in 1991 and received much critical acclaim for their poignancy and ability to personalize the nameless victims of a technological war that resulted in the en-masse death of an undisclosed number of people. Although the present volume does not contain the haunting Arabic translation by the Iraqi poet Kadhim Jihad, the poems are presented in their entirety and serve to document the most recent stage in Ben Jelloun's writing, where sociopolitical elements blend with lyricism to provide the reader with an intentionally uneasy and contradictory emotion.

To Ben Jelloun, poetry has always represented a medium of expression that no other literary genre can provide. The Editions du Seuil's invaluable collection ultimately serves not only to record history from the point of view of the marginalized but also to follow the growth of a francophone writer who has managed to gain international recognition despite racial, social, political, and geographic boundaries.