Chems Palace : le roman écopoétique d’Ali Bécheur

What makes Ali Bécheur’s literature special is the poetic dimension of his writings. The novels of the Tunisian author, although responding to the formal imperatives of the novel genre, defy the law of the literary genre itself, when certain paragraphs are presented in the form of poetry. Poetry freed from formal constraints emerges from the depths of the soul of the novelist-poet, and this change of tone is usually there to convey an emotion linked to the changes affecting Tunisian traditions. In Chems Palace, a novel published in 2014, Bécheur uses poetic prose to counter the growing materialism that is threatening the natural setting in which the characters evolve. The narrator observes with bitterness the environmental crisis looming in the country's arid regions, namely the southern regions, because of the expansion of tourist sites which are developing with total disrespect for Nature. In response to this threat to the lives of the people of the South who depend on the oasis, Ali Bécheur writes to pay homage to the inhabitants, and he uses writing to highlight the eco-friendly cultural practices of the villagers and their respect for the environment. In this sense, the analysis will focus on how Ali Bécheur presents his vision of a “vivre ensemble” that includes Nature as an integral part of the cycle of life. Furthermore, eco-poetic prose is essential in the novel and marks a rupture with a hyper-material world. As a result, this work explores lyricism as a form of resistance and poetic writing as an expression of ecological concern.