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Mohamed Saïd Raïhani’s Website
MOHAMED SAID RAIHANI
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Mohamed Saïd Raïhani (in Arabic: محمد
سعيد
الريحاني) is a Moroccan translator,
novelist and short-story writer born on December 23rd
Contents
o
1.1Childhood and
early attractions towards arts and literature
o
1.2First steps
towards fictive writing
·
4Journalistic
Researches & Investigations in Arabic
·
5Onomastic
Researches in Arabic
·
6Works Translated
into English
·
7Interviews
Collected in Published Books
Bibliography[edit]
Childhood
and early attractions towards arts and literature[edit]
Mohamed Saïd Raïhani was
born on Monday December 23, 1968 in Ksar el Kebir (Morocco) where he got his primary and
secondary schooling before going to Tetouan north of Morocco to carry on his university studies in English literature.
In his early life, he was fond of plastic
arts but as he could not access Fine Arts School in Tetouan, 130 kilometers
away from his hometown, since he was not yet fifteen years old, he shifted to
literature, at the age of sixteen.
When he was sixteen years old, he tried
writing his autobiography in French. Yet, on joining the university, he began
writing short plays in English, being at that time a great fan of the Irish
famous playwright George Bernard Shaw.
He also tried short story writing as he was
fascinated by Ernest Hemingway’s
writings. However, right after his university studies, he joined the sector of
National Education as a teacher. on the literary plane, he shifted right away
from writing in English into writing in Arabic, the language of his daily life and his
deepest dreams.He, however, kept his love for short story that dates back to
his childhood.
In fact, when he was a little boy, a lady who
was a friend of his mother’s used to visit them every afternoon to tell them
wonderful stories that were nothing but the "Arabian Nights". To this magic
story-teller, he did a very special tribute in the first chapter of his "photo-autobiography"
entitled "When Photo Talks".[2]
This lady has kindled his passion for fiction
since his very early childhood, enabling him master the craft of telling
stories before even learning the literary writing techniques.
First steps
towards fictive writing[edit]
As far as writing is concerned, Mohamed
Saïd Raïhani admits being very grateful to "Composition",
a period he used to like most in the elementary school years. In periods of
"Composition", he felt fully free to write as he pleased and,
gradually, he found out his growing inclination towards literary writing.
However, reading books of great writers set his eyes wide open on
worldwide literature.
His early readings were guided by nightly
television series he used to watch every night. Thus, Les Misérables by Victor Hugo was perhaps his first
French-speaking book that he may have chosen with his own hands at the age of
thirteen. Thus, late at night, he used to read on paper the same episodes of
the series he had watched on TV in the early 1980s.[3]
Early
narrative texts[edit]
"In Love" and "Open,
Sesame!" are Mohamed Saïd Raïhani’s first short stories written
by the end of 1991 when he was 23 years old. "In Love" was not
published until fifteen years later. However, "Open, Sesame!", was
published on May 9, 1994 on one of the greatest literary Annexes in the 1990s
Morocco, "Bayan Al Yawm Al-Thaqafi".
The central theme in "Open,
Sesame!" is repeated several times in Mohamed Saïd Raïhani’s
early short stories: Flood. "Open, Sesame!" remains
"a short story which invests dream as a narrative technique in a journey
from individual dream to the collective one", wrote Moroccan writer
Mohamed Aslim in his preface to Mohamed Saïd Raïhani’s first
collection of short stories "Waiting For The Morning"
published in 2003.
Literary
Philosophy[edit]
In 2003, Mohamed Saïd Raïhani wrote
a short story entitled "'The Three Keys" (published in the
collection "Season of Migration to Anywhere", 2006). This short
story "The Three Keys", contains his philosophy related to
fiction writing. "The Three Keys" defends free expression,
urges love of the written work and dreams of reaching the real reader.It is a
desire to reconcile the text with its free and wild nature:
"When Freedom, says Mohamed Saïd
Raïhani in an interview with "Le Matin" a French-speaking
daily newspaper, will be the direct background of fiction, Love the storyline
and Dream the dominant form of narration, only then short story will have taken
a wider step to emancipate itself from the present restrains. Yet, writers
should realize that Immunity is not necessarily reserved to diplomates but it
is also writers' and artists' as well. When writers will realize that and
believe in it, they will meet Freedom and will write free texts where they can
dream and love to the last dregs."
Literary Works
in Arabic[edit]
·
Waiting for the Morning (Short Stories) in 2003
·
The Season of Migration to
Anywhere (Short Stories) in
2006
·
Death of the Author (Short Stories) in 2010
·
A Dialogue between Two
Generations (Short Stories) in
2011 (Co-authored with Driss seghir)
·
The Enemy of the Sun, the
Clown Who turned Out To Be A Monster (Novel)
in 2012
·
Behind Every Great Man,
There Are Dwarfs (Short Stories) in
2012
·
No to Violence (Short Stories) in 2014
·
Fifty Short-Shorts: Theme
of Freedom (Short short Stories)
in 2015
Critical Works
in Arabic[edit]
·
The Three Keys: An Anthology of Moroccan New Short Story (Vol. 1: "The
Key to Dream"), 2006
·
The Three Keys: An Anthology of Moroccan New Short Story (Vol. 1: "The
Key to Love"), 2007
·
The Three Keys: An Anthology of Moroccan New Short Story (Vol. 1: "The
Key to Freedom"), 2008
Journalistic
Researches & Investigations in Arabic[edit]
·
The History of
Manipulating Professional Contests in Morocco (Journalistic
Investigation) Vol. 1, 2009.
·
The History of
Manipulating Professional Contests in Morocco (or Letters
to the Minister of Education in Morocco) (Journalistic Investigation) Vol.
2, 2011.
·
Authenticity of Arab Media
Slogan Through the Making of Press Image (Case of Aljazeera
Slogan, The Opinion & the Other Opinion), 2015.
Onomastic Researches
in Arabic[edit]
·
The Singularity Will (A
Semiotic Study on First-names) in 2001
Works
Translated into English[edit]
·
Waiting for the Morning (Short
Stories), Bloomington (Indiana/USA): Xlibris, 2013.
Interviews
Collected in Published Books[edit]
·
Anas Filali, "Raihanyat" (Forty
Interviews with Mohamed Said Raihani), Amman/Jordan: Sayel Publishing Co, 1st
Edition, 2012.
·
Collective Work, "With Raihani in His Cultural
Lodge" (Thirty Interviews on Culture, Art & Literature with
Mohamed Said Raihani), Tetouan/Morocco: Maktabat Salma Al-Thaqafiah, 1st
Edition, 2016.
References[edit]
1. ^ Bousselham M'hamdi, "Contemporary Writers
& Thinkers of Ksar El Kebir", Tangiers: 1st Edition, 2008, page167
2. ^ Mohamed Saïd Raïhani interviewed by Kenza Alaoui
, published on Moroccan daily newspaper «Le Matin», (in French), 25 August
2008, page8
3. ^ Mohamed
Larbi Lasri, "Pens & Names from Ksar El Kébir", Tangiers: 1st
Edition, Volume 3, 2008, page 239
External links[edit]
·
Mohamed Said Raihani Interviewed
·
Mohamed Said Raihani Interviewing
Danish Poet Niels Hav
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e-mail: mohamed_said_raihani@yahoo.com
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