”One Hundred Tunisian Books” is a collective work in French published in January 2025 by Majmaâ Al-Atrash editions with the help of the Fund to Encourage Literary and Artistic Creation at the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. The authors’ objective is to “compose a sort of ‘diachronic memory’ of the Tunisian book”, attesting to a certain continuity between the works throughout History.
This 214-page book brings together a selection of 64 works in Arabic and 36 in French, written by one hundred authors, including twelve female authors, published between the 2nd and 21st centuries, testifying to the cultural and historical richness of Tunisia. The texts are signed by a host of academics, authors and critics belonging to different literary and cultural disciplines
Directed by Kamel Ben Ouanès and Chaabane Harbaoui, the book presents texts by five other authors: Adel Ben Youssef, Amina Chénik, Salah El Gharbi, Ahmed Mahfoudh and Issam Marzouk. General coordination was ensured by Younès Ben Hajira.
For each author, the book provides a summary of their literary career followed by a presentation of one of their most remarkable works. Each text is accompanied by the portrait of the author and the cover of his book.
From Apuleius to Amira Ghenim
Many of these women include: Jalila Hafsia, Emna Belhaj Yahia, Nefla Dhahab, Hélé Béji, Aroussia Nalouti, Azza Filali, Jalila Baccar, Nelly Amri, Amel Benammar Elgaaied, Alia Tabai, Olfa Youssef and Amira Ghenim.
The chronological reading of Tunisian thought throughout history goes back to the middle of the 2nd century with the great philosopher Apuleius (Lucius Apuleius) having lived between 125 and 180 in the Carthaginian era, famous for ”Metamorphoses or the golden donkey”.
This picaresque story would be the first Latin novel that has come down to us. According to some critics, Apuleius is the father of the modern novel in the Mediterranean and Western world.
Among the authors who have marked Tunisian thought, is the great scholar Abderrahman Ibn Khaldoun (1332-1406) who is an Arab philosopher, historian, economist and sociologist born in Tunis, during the Hafsid era. The book presents his colossal work ”Al-Muqaddima”’ (The Prolegomena), published in 1377, which constitutes a reference in philosophy, history and literature.
The book also focuses on the work of Kheireddine Pasha (1822-1890), the grand vizier and reformer of the Beylical era who also embodies the figure of the intellectual and the thinker through his book ”The surest way to know the state of nations”.
The book ends with the journey of the novelist Mouha Harmel, the youngest of the French-speaking literary scene and winner of the 2023 Comar d’or for ”Siqal, the antler of the ogress”. The writer, whose fictional universe draws on his vast philosophical culture, is presented through his novel ”Leyla’s Lost Dreams” (2016).
One hundred titles chosen from 1253 titles
There are large icons of the literature, modern and contemporary, in the lobby, with some songs on the site Abdelaziz Thaâlbi, Mohamed Tahar Ben Achour, Hasan Hosni Abdelwahab, Tahar Haddad, Abou Al-Kacem Chebbi, Ali Douagi, Mohamed El Fadhel Ben Achour, Mahmoud Messadi, Béchir Kraief, Paul Sebag, Albert Memmi, Mohamed Talbi, Taoufik Baccar, Mnaouar Smadeh, Béhir Ben Slama, Mustapha Fersi, Habib Boularès, Hichem Djait, Jean Fontaine, Ali Bécheur, Gilbert Naccache, Abdelwaheb Meddeb, Mohamed El-Ghozzi and others Mohamed Sghaier Ouled Ahmed. “One thousand two hundred and fifty-three titles, all genres combined, were consulted by the authors whose concern to identify, beyond the specificities of their periods and their respective genres, the lines of overlap which attest to a certain continuity between these works throughout History”we can read in the introduction signed Kamel Ben Ouanès and Chaabane Harbaoui, who “intend to compose a sort of ‘diachronic memory’ of the Tunisian book and thus clear the ground for a necessary archeology of our intellectual, literary and artistic production”.
According to Tap.
