New publication: “El gran espejo” (The Big Mirror)

Cabaret Voltaire is publishing this book for the first time ever in Spain, by Mohamed Mrabet and Paul Bowles.

First published in the United States in 1977, “The Big Mirror” has been translated into French, Italian and German. Now it is appearing for the first time in Spanish, the language that served as a bridge for Mohamed Mrabet to tell this story to Paul Bowles.

The novel is a love story that tells a legend of blood, mirrors and madness. A young landowner named Ali marries Rachida, and together they settle in a beautiful mansion in the medina of Tangiers. While Ali works at the farm, Rachida spends the whole day locked up inside, gazing at herself in a large mirror hanging in one of the rooms, and little by little she loses her mind. The great magic mirror is cursed and does not always reflect what is standing in front of it.

Mohamed Mrabet. A Moroccan writer and painter of Riffian origin, he was born in Tangiers in 1936. At the age of twelve, he gave up his studies and left home, fleeing from parental abuse. He survived by trading whiskey and tobacco at the port. He worked as a waiter, a fisherman and even as a boxer. After a time spent in the United States, he returned to Tangiers in 1960 and struck up a close friendship with Paul Bowles. Intense literary collaboration was born from this relationship and lasted until 1992, with the publication of thirteen books, all transcribed by Bowles from tapes which Mrabet recorded in dialectal Arabic, telling him the fascinating stories he had heard in cafés since his childhood. Mohamed Mrabet continues telling new stories in Tangiers, where he lives to this day.

Paul Bowles (New York, 1910-Tangiers, 1999). A writer and composer, Bowles is considered one of the greatest American storytellers from the second half of the twentieth century. Ever since he arrived in Tangiers in 1948, the Bowles couple turned the city into a magnet for intellectuals and artists, including those of the Beat Generation. Among his works are “The Sheltering Sky” (1949), “Let It Come Down” (1952) and “Without Stopping” (1972). He recorded traditional Moroccan music, which appeared in the valuable Paul Bowles Collection. [Translation by Alberto Mrteh].

Information based on the information provided by the publisher.

You can buy the book here.