Pollens de Mahi Binebine, l’amour entre l’ivresse cannabique et l’ivresse du pouvoir

Abstract

This research questions Mahi Binebine’s novel Pollens as one of the few representations of the effects of cannabis intoxication in Maghrebian literature. The rational mind is opposed to the madness of cannabis that invades the mind. But beyond this aspect, it is above all a question of denouncing a rout, the degeneration of the quest for bucolic utopia into a hellish descent. Worthy of the best love stories, Pollens is also a reflection on despotic power, which does not hesitate to use very archaic methods to dominate the population and shatter hopes. The protagonists fight against the ugliness and monstrosity embodied by the hideous lord of Ketama to defend the human values of love, friendship and moral integrity. In this struggle, storytelling and writing, as in most of Binebine’s novels, are the best weapons to defend against amnesia and complicit silence.