Writing Tangier in the Postcolonial Transition: Space and Power in Expatriate and North African Literature

176 Pages·2011·1.18 MB·English

by  Michael K. Walonen

Writing Tangier in the
Postcolonial Transition
Space and Power in Expatriate
and North African Literature
Michael K. Walonen
Writing tangier in the
Postcolonial transition
to my son, hunter:
“May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
and see the lights surrounding you.”
Writing tangier in the
Postcolonial transition
space and Power in expatriate
and north african literature
Michael K. Walonen
Bethune-Cookman University, USA
© Michael K. Walonen 2011
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Michael K. Walonen has asserted his right under the copyright, Designs and Patents act, 1988,
to be identified as the author of this work.
Published by
ashgate Publishing limited ashgate Publishing company
Wey court east suite 420
Union road 101 cherry street
Farnham Burlington
surrey, gU9 7Pt Vt 05401-4405
england Usa
www.ashgate.com
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Walonen, Michael K.
Writing tangier in the postcolonial transition: space and power in expatriate and north african
literature.
1. tangier (Morocco) – in literature. 2. authors, american – Morocco – tangier – history –
20th century. 3. authors, american – Morocco – tangier – attitudes. 4. american literature
– 20th century – history and criticism. 5. literature and history – Morocco—history – 20th
century. 6. literature and society – Morocco – history – 20th century.
i. title
810.9’358642’09045-dc22
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Walonen, Michael K., 1979-
Writing tangier in the postcolonial transition: space and power in expatriate and north african
literature / by Michael K. Walonen.
p. cm.
includes bibliographical references.
isBn 978-1-4094-3381-1 (hardcover: alk. paper) — isBn 978-1-4094-3382-8 (ebook)
1. expatriate authors—Morocco—tangier—history—20th century. 2. authors, american—
Morocco—tangier—history--20th century. 3. authors, english—Morocco—tangier—
history--20th century. 4. tangier (Morocco)—in literature. 5. space in literature.
6. Morocco--social conditions—20th century. 7. north african literature—20th century—
history and criticism. 8. Postcolonialism in literature. i. title.
Pl8014.M67W35 2011
809.9335864205--dc23
2011023638
isBn: 9781409433811 (hbk)
isBn: 9781409433828 (ebk)
V
Contents
List of Figures vii
Acknowledgements ix
1 Introduction 1
2 The Cultural Dynamics of Expatriate Tangier 13
3 Paul Bowles, Approaching the Maghreb 37
4 Always on the Outside: Jane Bowles’s Vision of Spatial
Impenetrability 69
5 “Don’t ever fall for this inscrutable oriental shit like Bowles puts
down”: Demystifying and Remystifying the Maghreb in William
Burroughs’s Tangier Writings 79
6 Brion Gysin’s Conflictive Maghreb 97
7 Alfred Chester: In Search of Belonging Through Mapping and Sex 115
8 A Counter-Discourse of Tangerian Space in the Works of Tahar
Ben Jelloun and Anouar Majid 129
Afterword 149
Bibliography 153
Index 161
This page has been left blank intentionally
List of Figures
1 Map of the Colonial Maghreb. x
2 U.S. Army Map of Tangier – 1942. xi
This page has been left blank intentionally
Acknowledgements
To see a line of scholarly inquiry of this scope through to its culmination requires
tremendous amounts of fortitude and support; as I always preach to my students that
writing is essentially a social process, the Romantic conceit of individual genius
our society still by and large subscribes to notwithstanding, I had better credit the
people whose love, encouragement, and/or assistance enabled this study to see the
proverbial light of day. In no particular order, I need to thank: Ann Donahue and the
other editors at Ashgate Publishers for understanding and approving of my work,
not to mention carrying it forward into print. Aleyce Fontenot for her unstinting
love and emotional sustenance, as well as her occasional gratis work as a scribe.
Bob Coleman-Senghor at Sonoma State University for mentoring me, keeping
me in the academic game when my resolution wavered, and modeling for me a
life of constant striving through humanistic inquiry. Doctors Christine Devine,
Joseph Andriano, and especially Yung-Hsing Wu for reading and giving incisive
commentary upon the early drafts of this work. My anonymous peer reviewers
for doing likewise much farther down the road. Eli Bortz at Vanderbilt University
Press for his enthusiasm and support. The English Departments at the University
of Alabama and Bethune-Cookman University for keeping me gainfully employed
in an abysmal academic job market. The good people at the Galerie de France for
their generous permission to use Gysin’s painting on the cover of this book. And,
last in this list but first in primacy, my mother, Linda Walonen, for instilling in me
an early love of reading and skill in using language.