الـحـب عـن بـعـد

Amin Maalouf <> أمين معلوف
Dar Al Farabi
ISBN: 9789961756362
95 Pag.

Setting: 12th century, in Aquitaine, Tripoli and at sea

Act I
Jaufré, having become weary of the pleasures of life, longs for a different love, one faraway, but realizes that it is unlikely that he will ever find her. The chorus, made up of his old companions, laugh at his dreams and tell him the woman he sings about does not exist. However, a Pilgrim, recently arrived from abroad, tells Jaufré that such a woman does indeed exist because he has met her. Jaufré then devotes himself to thinking only of her.

Act II
The Pilgrim, having returned to Tripoli, meets Clémence and tells her that, in France, a prince-troubadour extols her in his songs, calling her his “love from afar”. Although this initially offends her, Clémence begins to dream of this strange and faraway lover, asking herself if she is worthy to receive such devotion.

Act III
First Scene: Upon his return to Blaye, the Pilgrim again meets Jaufré and tells him that the lady now knows that he sings about her. Jaufré decides that he must now travel to meet her.

Second Scene: However, Clémence seems to prefer that their relationship remains distant since she is reluctant to live constantly waiting and does not want to suffer.

Act IV
On impulse, Jaufré sets out to meet his “love from afar”, but not without some trepidation. He anguishes that he has not made the right decision, so much so that he becomes severely ill, that sickness increasing the closer he gets to Tripoli. Finally, he arrives there, but he is dying.

Act V
The ships berths and the Pilgrim hurries off to tell the countess that Jaufré has arrived, that he is close to death, and that he asks to see her. Carried on a stretcher, Jaufré is brought to the citadel unconscious, but in the presence of Clémence, he recovers somewhat. With Jaufré approaching death, the couple embrace and confess their love for each other. When he dies in her arms, Clémence rages against Heaven and considers herself responsible for the tragedy. She decides to enter a convent and the last scene shows her in prayer. However, her words are ambiguous: it is not clear to whom she is praying on her knees, to her faraway God or to her “Love from afar”.

Language: Arabic.