The unseen writes the messages

The unseen writes the messages - Majdi bin Isa. Hassan did not comment on his friend's talk, and he distracted himself with his cigarette, smoking it and flicking the ashes into the ashtray in front of him, while I withdrew, penetrating the poet, his sofa, and the wall behind him. In those moments, I realized I had been completely left to my fate, and I needed a long and wide street to breathe. I walked through the passersby and cars like any spot of shade that does not mind being penetrated and violated, without feeling any tragedy towards my destiny. Rather, the lightness of its impact on my soul at that time made me feel a hidden joy that began to seep into me and fill my being. I thought meanwhile that I could have obtained more exciting results if I had taken the matter of the messages less seriously, and I smiled imagining what could happen to all three of them as they searched for an invisible being who writes messages for them and claims to be their friend. On that day, my invisible existence ceased to be a burden or a dilemma; I suddenly became free from commitments, and that is not at all a bad thing. In some way, I became like the dreamer Japanese poet's butterfly as it flutters among passersby and cars: yes, that is not a bad thing, I said to myself as I recalled the small haiku: "I dreamed last night that I was a butterfly..." This novel is historically set just before the Tunisian revolution. During this period, the novel, through its narrations, attempts to explore the reasons behind the stagnation of the intellectual and the cultural institution and their isolation from social movement. It also sheds light on the destructive role of political tyranny and the security grip with which the authorities dealt with cultural affairs, and what resulted from that in the complete absence of a cultural framework for the January 14, 2011 revolution.