Until a week ago, I had never heard of Osama Almuslim. It’s not a big deal, because I’m not one of his potential targets, given that I’m allergic to the genre Fantasy Or Heroic Fantasy. I didn’t grow up with Tolkien’s literature, but with certain science fiction novels by Philip K. Dick. Each his own.
So Osama Almuslim did not wait for me to come to him, it was he who came to me. And to us. We are not talking about a successful writer, but about a social phenomenon. A regular at the Book Fair told me: “In my entire life, I have never seen this. In no salon, neither in Morocco nor elsewhere“.
In Rabat, fans, boys and girls who came from all over Morocco, waited for hours to see their favorite writer, who came to sign his latest book. Some were not so lucky, since the authorities quickly put an end to the signing, facing the risk of security overflow.
You can imagine: a writer received like a global rockstar!
I am in a bad position to dissect the literature of Almuslim, which is phenomenally abundant. But I know that the literary genre Fantasy is a hit all over the world, especially among young people. So in Morocco too. While, supposedly, Moroccan youth do not read or read very little. And it is at this level that there is something to grasp and decode.
Beyond the quality of Almuslim, which I don’t know, its success absolutely delights me. At the same time, it makes me green with jealousy. He makes me stupid. Me and entire generations of writers, poets, columnists and literati. Because the starting equation is the same for everyone: we write to be read. To be read is to exist. Who doesn’t dream of existing? And to be loved?
Almuslim bypasses the usual intermediation circuits such as television or newspapers. He communicates via social networks and other relays that the dinosaurs that we are do not understand. With his good face, his smooth and clean side, and this name which resembles a certificate of good conduct, Almuslim resembles more of an influencer than the stereotype of the bitter or rebellious writer. He breaks the classic patterns and all the codes that made us love literature. Finally, some literature.
This is why its overwhelming success gives us this UFO impression. He is in a world to which we do not belong. Or that we prefer to ignore.
But we live this world. This world is that of its readers and fans. Young people who could be our children. Osama knew how to take this small army by the hand. He understood how it worked and his dreams. And it goes way beyond just well-thought-out marketing. Bravo to him.
