Abdel Hafed Benotman: The author as criminal
Obituary: The eccentric writer, who was a serial bank robber and spent half his life in prison died in February. He leaves behind a rich legacy of literature steeped in crime.
4 min read
Benotman did much of his writing while in prison [al-Araby]
The French-Algerian author and playwright, Abdel Hafed Benotman, died in a Parisian hospital on 20 February 2015 after suffering a heart condition.
Benotman is almost completely unknown to Arab readers as he mostly wrote in French and is only relatively known in France due to his eccentric personality that combined literature and crime.
Benotman was born in Paris in 1960 to Algerian parents
who emigrated to France in the 1950s. He spent his childhood in the central 6th district of Paris, an area known for its cafe culture, revolutionary intellectualism and literature. However, the young Benotman dropped out of school at 15 and then had his first in a lifetime of encounters with the law at 16, when he was jailed for robbery.
After being released, Benotman worked odd jobs alongside his extrajudicial activities. However, in 1979 at the age of 19, Benotman's luck ran out again when he was arrested while robbing a bank. He was sentenced to seven years in prison. It was during this period of Benotman's life that he discovered the world of literature after taking part in a writing workshop in prison, at which he excelled.
Prison writer
Benotman started writing as a marginalised prisoner angry at the world, and wrote with the same enthusiasm and madness with which he committed his crimes. He was a complex and temperamental man who was haunted by a deep sense of oppression. He also hated work and preferred easy money instead. He once wrote: "Between writing an episode of a television series and robbing a bank, I chose the latter without hesitation."
In 1990, Benotman was sentenced to nine years in jail once again for taking part in an armed robbery, and he used this time to write a series of short stories that were later published under the title: The Madmen (1992), with a special foreword by the British author Robin Cook.
He also wrote another series of short stories titled The Poles of Torture, which was published in 2006. Both works received instant acclaim especially among readers of "dark novels" for Benotman's captivating realism and honesty. When asked why he liked writing short stories, Benotman replied: "Because they are short and they can easily be smuggled out of prison."
However, after being encouraged by his publisher and friends, most of who had been activists, journalists and crime fiction writers, Benotman wrote his first novel, Sanitation Worker on a Scaffold, which was an autobiographical novel published in 2003.
Despite Benotman's writings being labeled as "crime fiction", it does not conform to the genre by starting with a crime and ending with the solving of the crime. Instead, Benotman writes about the dark underworld that runs parallel to everyday life and shackles whoever delves within it to the point of detachment from society.
Benotman has also written a number of other novels and plays, in addition to a collection of poetry. He took part in writing the screenplay for On The Board, directed by Leila Kilani and Fevers, directed by Hicham Ayouch. The Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche has also bought the rights to some of Benotman's novels to turn them into feature films.
Serial offender
Benotman's life was equally divided between his prison time, when he used to write and creatively develop, and his temporary stints outside prison, when he would plan his next failed criminal endeavor that would lead him right back to jail. At the end of the 1990s, he became active with rights organisations that worked to improve prison conditions and the rehabilitation of prisoners.
Despite having the opportunity to abandon the life of crime for his writing, especially after his success, it seemed like the underworld that Benotman wrote about and participated in took complete hold of him. In 2003, Benotman returned to old ways by robbing four banks in the Paris suburbs.
By the end, Benotman had spent half his life in jail. He never secured residency or citizenship documents, because he hated bureaucracy and therefore did not apply for French citizenship. He was the archetypal repeat offender that would be released only to instinctively commit another crime to return to jail.
However, deep down Benotman was a thief with morals and boundaries that he never exceeded. He specialised in robbing banks and the rich, but always used fake weapons during his robberies and made sure no one was harmed.
Benotman is almost completely unknown to Arab readers as he mostly wrote in French and is only relatively known in France due to his eccentric personality that combined literature and crime.
Benotman was born in Paris in 1960 to Algerian parents
 |
He hated bureaucracy and never applied for French citizenship. |
After being released, Benotman worked odd jobs alongside his extrajudicial activities. However, in 1979 at the age of 19, Benotman's luck ran out again when he was arrested while robbing a bank. He was sentenced to seven years in prison. It was during this period of Benotman's life that he discovered the world of literature after taking part in a writing workshop in prison, at which he excelled.
Prison writer
Benotman started writing as a marginalised prisoner angry at the world, and wrote with the same enthusiasm and madness with which he committed his crimes. He was a complex and temperamental man who was haunted by a deep sense of oppression. He also hated work and preferred easy money instead. He once wrote: "Between writing an episode of a television series and robbing a bank, I chose the latter without hesitation."
In 1990, Benotman was sentenced to nine years in jail once again for taking part in an armed robbery, and he used this time to write a series of short stories that were later published under the title: The Madmen (1992), with a special foreword by the British author Robin Cook.
He also wrote another series of short stories titled The Poles of Torture, which was published in 2006. Both works received instant acclaim especially among readers of "dark novels" for Benotman's captivating realism and honesty. When asked why he liked writing short stories, Benotman replied: "Because they are short and they can easily be smuggled out of prison."
However, after being encouraged by his publisher and friends, most of who had been activists, journalists and crime fiction writers, Benotman wrote his first novel, Sanitation Worker on a Scaffold, which was an autobiographical novel published in 2003.
Despite Benotman's writings being labeled as "crime fiction", it does not conform to the genre by starting with a crime and ending with the solving of the crime. Instead, Benotman writes about the dark underworld that runs parallel to everyday life and shackles whoever delves within it to the point of detachment from society.
Benotman has also written a number of other novels and plays, in addition to a collection of poetry. He took part in writing the screenplay for On The Board, directed by Leila Kilani and Fevers, directed by Hicham Ayouch. The Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche has also bought the rights to some of Benotman's novels to turn them into feature films.
Serial offender
Benotman's life was equally divided between his prison time, when he used to write and creatively develop, and his temporary stints outside prison, when he would plan his next failed criminal endeavor that would lead him right back to jail. At the end of the 1990s, he became active with rights organisations that worked to improve prison conditions and the rehabilitation of prisoners.
Despite having the opportunity to abandon the life of crime for his writing, especially after his success, it seemed like the underworld that Benotman wrote about and participated in took complete hold of him. In 2003, Benotman returned to old ways by robbing four banks in the Paris suburbs.
By the end, Benotman had spent half his life in jail. He never secured residency or citizenship documents, because he hated bureaucracy and therefore did not apply for French citizenship. He was the archetypal repeat offender that would be released only to instinctively commit another crime to return to jail.
However, deep down Benotman was a thief with morals and boundaries that he never exceeded. He specialised in robbing banks and the rich, but always used fake weapons during his robberies and made sure no one was harmed.
This article is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.
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