Vivacious, Elegant, and Gracious, with a Keen Sense of Humor: The Story of Hafidha Ben Jjeb Latta
The Press — Born in the heart of the land, in Kairouan, she has lived a thousand lives, crossed seas, and climbed mountains. Hafidha Ben Jjeb Latta, a young woman from Kairouan with a rich heritage, has experienced the traditional life of a family, the festive and joyful life of a student who had just been granted freedom by the personal status code, and the bustling professional life alongside our former Prime Minister of Culture, Si Chedly Klibi, during a time of great cultural fervor and growth. After breaking free from the taboos of her time, she embarked on a life of travel and adventure as the wife of a British diplomat, traveling the world. Refusing to play the role of a decorative trophy often attributed to the companions of foreign representatives, she taught, created associations, supported others, organized events, and eventually built an impressive network of traditional textile exchanges between the East and the West. Vivacious, elegant, and gracious, with a keen sense of humor and a touch of British wit, our Kairouanaise-Anglaise tells her story and shares her life with us. How does one, at the age of eighty, with good health and spirits, come to write the book of their life? Probably because the bustling life Hafidha led didn't leave her the time to do so earlier? But, above all, she affirms, it's because she had made a promise to her mother, on her deathbed, to tell the story of her difficult life, a life of sacrifice for her children in a society that was harsh on single women. "This book, I wrote it for my children, my family, without initially thinking of publishing it. At first, it was just the story of my mother. A story of sadness and hardship that, in my opinion, no publisher would want to publish. But I had a life of light, full of joys, projects, and happiness. I then decided to complete it because I wanted to publish my mother's story. I have the luck of having a very good photographic memory. I remember in images everything I've lived, everything I've witnessed, everything that was told to me with the tone and expression that accompanied it. The book was therefore already in my head, entirely, for over a year."
The book was written in English and then translated at the request of her friends and Taoufik Hbaïeb, whose Leaders editions are dedicated to preserving memories. The beautiful conclusion to this story is that Hafidha Ben Rejeb Latta, while researching her grandfather's book, the poet Salah Souissi, which she had contributed to publishing at the time, discovered at the National Library that he had actually left behind eleven books, and that he was owed the credit for the first African novel published in 1906. It is with great joy that she was heading to Kairouan after our interview to present her book and that of her grandfather.
