Floating bodies and drifting souls: The absurdity of burial and the State of contempt (The tragedy of the “Zarzis peninsula”)
Khaled Tabbabi
translated by Hajer Araissia
The image of a woman sitting on an old refrigerator by the sea of Zarzis, as if embodying the stagnation of the feelings of a cruel society towards its citizens, is that of a mother waiting to fall into the arms of her son, who will never come back. It is an image of love and adoration for her son, her beloved from the moment of conception to the moment of their eternal separation. In those moments, she becomes obsessed with a long waiting, wondering about his fate: had he managed to reach the Italian borders, was he fighting against the waves…or maybe she loses hope of seeing him return alive…