Chosen Brotherhood in Abdellah Taïa’s Celui qui est digne d’être aimé

This article analyzes the final letter in Abdellah Taïa’s epistolary novel, Celui qui est digne d’être aimé (2017). First, I examine the relationship of chosen brotherhood between two queer characters, Ahmed and Lahbib, as well as Lahbib’s explicit definition of the brotherly bond between them. Subsequently, I turn to Lahbib’s account of his transnational sexual exploitation, in which he nuances his initial definition of chosen brotherhood to include a protective element. I then show how the transnational sexual encounter, which reveals the residue of the colonial era, causes the boys to look after one another differently. When readers learn that Lahbib will take his own life, the epistolary nature of the text changes and a reading in which the text serves as a cautionary tale emerges. To conclude, I focus on the concept of worth, present in the letter and the novel’s title to argue that chosen brotherhood both serves as a refuge from exploitation and provides the foundational discourse necessary to establish worth among the queer marginalized

Art · Humanities · Queer · Sociology · African history and culture studies · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Gender Studies · Philosophy

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  Mehammed Amadeus Mack•Comparative Literature Studies•2014

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