Tahar Ben Jelloun, born in 1944 in Morocco, is considered the most successful Maghrebian writer in the French language. The author demonstrates the functions of numerous dream narratives using the examples of the novels L'enfant de sable and La nuit sacrée (Prix Goncourt 1987).

As a trained psychologist, Ben Jelloun applies his knowledge of Freud's psychoanalysis to give depth to the inner life of the novel's characters. Furthermore, the dream narratives serve social criticism and are a literary device that enables a 'freedom in writing' influenced by Borges.

The Arabic conception of dreams is also incorporated into the novels, so that the analysis of the dream narratives reveals an amalgam of different contexts that characterizes Ben Jelloun's work. This is the first German-language dissertation dedicated exclusively to Ben Jelloun.