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Mohamed Mrabet: A living memory of international Tangiers
November 20, 20197:00 p.m.
MADRID
Casa Árabe Auditorium (at Calle Alcalá, 62).
7:00 p.m.
Free entry until the event’s capacity is reached.
In Spanish.
Casa Árabe and the publishing firm Cabaret Voltaire have organized this
event with the Moroccan author in Madrid on Wednesday, November 20.
The event will include a talk given by Mohamed Mrabet, the author of The Lemon and Love for a Fistful of Hair, as well as Alberto Mrteh, translator of The Lemon (El limón), and Alberto Gómez Font, a linguist and the former director of the Cervantes Institute in Casablanca.
Like many other adolescents of his era, Mohamed Mrabet preferred the freedom of the streets to the discipline of his family household. Because he never finished school, he began to earn a living as a caddie, fisherman, boxer and bartender. For some time, he worked in the United States and then, once back in Tangiers, in 1960, he began paying frequent visits to the American writers residing in the city: William Burroughs, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams and Allen Ginsberg. The city had become a magnet for intellectuals and artists, including those of the Beat Generation. There he met Jane and Paul Bowles, and became the couple’s trusted right-hand man. Paul and Mohamed had a productive relationship in which the American took down the stories which the Moroccan told him in Darija, the local dialect. Paul Bowles transcribed them in simple language, devoid of artifice, thus attempting to maintain the fresh form of oral storytelling.
Along the same lines as the publication of the complete works of Mohamed Chukri, the publishing firm Cabaret Voltaire is undertaking another major project: the publication of the thirteen novels which came about as a result of the collaboration between Mohamed Mrabet and Paul Bowles. The Lemon, unpublished until recently in Spanish as “El limón,” came out in 1969 and was his second book, after Love for a Fistful of Hair, also published by Cabaret Voltaire as “Amor por un puñado de pelos.” His next title, to be published in late 2020, will be The Big Mirror.
The Lemon
Abdeslam is 12 years old. He recites the Qur’an at the mosque, reads The Arabian Nights and dreams about living his own adventures. He sometimes has visions in which terrible things take place. One day he fights with his teacher, and his father throws him out of the house. He takes up residence in the medina of Tangiers with Bachir, a dockworker from the port, and feels like the main character in one of the stories he likes to read. Surrounded by a decadent atmosphere of corruption in the international city, he fights to hold onto his childhood innocence.
Love for a Fistful of Hair
In the magical atmosphere enveloping the acts and feelings of the characters in this story, we discover one of the most commonly recurring themes in Moroccan culture: witchcraft as a way to create a spell for love, or to undo such a spell. Mohamed and Mina are the two youths from marginalized places who are the main characters in this truculent tale featuring such magic spells, love potions, curses and poisons.
Like many other adolescents of his era, Mohamed Mrabet preferred the freedom of the streets to the discipline of his family household. Because he never finished school, he began to earn a living as a caddie, fisherman, boxer and bartender. For some time, he worked in the United States and then, once back in Tangiers, in 1960, he began paying frequent visits to the American writers residing in the city: William Burroughs, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams and Allen Ginsberg. The city had become a magnet for intellectuals and artists, including those of the Beat Generation. There he met Jane and Paul Bowles, and became the couple’s trusted right-hand man. Paul and Mohamed had a productive relationship in which the American took down the stories which the Moroccan told him in Darija, the local dialect. Paul Bowles transcribed them in simple language, devoid of artifice, thus attempting to maintain the fresh form of oral storytelling.
Along the same lines as the publication of the complete works of Mohamed Chukri, the publishing firm Cabaret Voltaire is undertaking another major project: the publication of the thirteen novels which came about as a result of the collaboration between Mohamed Mrabet and Paul Bowles. The Lemon, unpublished until recently in Spanish as “El limón,” came out in 1969 and was his second book, after Love for a Fistful of Hair, also published by Cabaret Voltaire as “Amor por un puñado de pelos.” His next title, to be published in late 2020, will be The Big Mirror.
The Lemon
Abdeslam is 12 years old. He recites the Qur’an at the mosque, reads The Arabian Nights and dreams about living his own adventures. He sometimes has visions in which terrible things take place. One day he fights with his teacher, and his father throws him out of the house. He takes up residence in the medina of Tangiers with Bachir, a dockworker from the port, and feels like the main character in one of the stories he likes to read. Surrounded by a decadent atmosphere of corruption in the international city, he fights to hold onto his childhood innocence.
Love for a Fistful of Hair
In the magical atmosphere enveloping the acts and feelings of the characters in this story, we discover one of the most commonly recurring themes in Moroccan culture: witchcraft as a way to create a spell for love, or to undo such a spell. Mohamed and Mina are the two youths from marginalized places who are the main characters in this truculent tale featuring such magic spells, love potions, curses and poisons.
