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Muffled Rhythms
Khalid's Poems fall right in the scope of our research Laboratory, which aims among other things to promote the the study of Arab and Muslim writers whose means of communication is the English Language. This collection of poems offers an interesting text for reading mainly because of the fact that by writing creatively in English rather than Arabic or French, The Moroccan writers such as Khalid Chaouch place themselves in a position of transgression, a position through which post-colonial stereotypes are interrogated.
Like Humble Odysseys, the writer's first creative publication, the present collection of poems is deeply rooted in Moroccan culture, while also revealing western inspirations. Muffled Rhythms weaves the treads of a subtle cultural dialogue involving the East and the West. But the present collection is, above all, a lyrical blend of love and hate, of age and youth, of Nostalgia and expectation. It collapses boundaries between the poetic and the everyday, between the solemn and the light, between the local and the Universal It's human touch is simply unmistakable.
Like Humble Odysseys, the writer's first creative publication, the present collection of poems is deeply rooted in Moroccan culture, while also revealing western inspirations. Muffled Rhythms weaves the treads of a subtle cultural dialogue involving the East and the West. But the present collection is, above all, a lyrical blend of love and hate, of age and youth, of Nostalgia and expectation. It collapses boundaries between the poetic and the everyday, between the solemn and the light, between the local and the Universal It's human touch is simply unmistakable.
103 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2010
40 people want to read
About the author
Khalid Chaouch
4 books26 followersKhalid Chaouch is currently a professor of "Modern & Classical Drama" and "American Civilization" at Sultan Moulay Slimane University, Faculty of Letters and Humanities, Department of English. He is the Author of Humble Odysseys, (Mohammedia: Fedala, 2002) a play that won the British Council Prize for Moroccan writers In English. (In Drama, July 2000) and L'evolution dramatique chez le dramaturge Americain Clifford Odets (1906 - 1963) (Villeneuve d'Asq: Septentrion, France, 1998) He contributed to national and international reviews with articles on Drama criticism and Cross-Cultural studies.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 25, 2012
Disclosure:
As a graduate in the English Department, I try to look for some different publications in English written by Moroccan, so I come across this book of Poetry, It's me who add it to the Goodreads database in addition to the author profile.
Overview:
First of all the book is a collection of Poems written by a Moroccan English Teacher, Most of the Poems' subjects inside the book spoke about the life and the Childhood of the Author, his Psychological imagination about certain situation in life.
Concerning the main contents, the Book starts with a preface that shows the main objectives of the Moroccan culture translated in English, after that the numbering system of the book contents goes in the reverse, it begins with Ten: A Cry in the Wadi, and so it goes till it last to One: The last poem. So the general synopsis that the reader may outcome, is that the Poem writer tries to avoid all the Political aspects of his society, and gave much focus to the childhood and the main cultural components that he encounter during his life. Sometimes the reader may come across some surpasses concerning the form of the poem especially in the poem of Roots and the Wheel of Misfortune.
Positive and Negative Aspects:
The general idea that the reader may encounter is that, Khalid Chaouch tries to implement some of the new forms of Poetry to his publication. And that is quite obvious from the pragmatic form of all his poems; there is much focus on blanks, playing with letters and forms of the Poems, there is a new touch concerning the subject that each poem takes, in addition to the simplicity of expression. Anyway this touch modernization tend to be so dominant in the whole Poetic work. in addition to the over focus of Arabic elements in most of his poems. Concerning the stylistics, most of the poems represent a new form of this techniques, meaning that even with modernization, stylistics may come across all the forms of our speech.
My Personal Reaction:
Personally, the writer of this work used to be my teacher in several subject, during my study in the faculty, so as word, I admit that I enjoy this publication of Poems, mostly due to its witty style, and the simplicity of the Moroccan soul, away from the life complication, as a reader I got the feeling that these poems came from the soul of simplicity and childhood, so the least thing we can do is to enjoy it and forget about our backgrounds.
Recommendations:
I am not quite sure for whom I may recommend this Poems, but since the writer has won a prize from the British council in Morocco, I came to believe that most British people became familiar with the style of that writer. Thus I recommend this poems to all the funs of the Moroccan life, and those who have the intention to explore the main components of the Moroccan cultural life.
As a graduate in the English Department, I try to look for some different publications in English written by Moroccan, so I come across this book of Poetry, It's me who add it to the Goodreads database in addition to the author profile.
Overview:
First of all the book is a collection of Poems written by a Moroccan English Teacher, Most of the Poems' subjects inside the book spoke about the life and the Childhood of the Author, his Psychological imagination about certain situation in life.
Concerning the main contents, the Book starts with a preface that shows the main objectives of the Moroccan culture translated in English, after that the numbering system of the book contents goes in the reverse, it begins with Ten: A Cry in the Wadi, and so it goes till it last to One: The last poem. So the general synopsis that the reader may outcome, is that the Poem writer tries to avoid all the Political aspects of his society, and gave much focus to the childhood and the main cultural components that he encounter during his life. Sometimes the reader may come across some surpasses concerning the form of the poem especially in the poem of Roots and the Wheel of Misfortune.
Positive and Negative Aspects:
The general idea that the reader may encounter is that, Khalid Chaouch tries to implement some of the new forms of Poetry to his publication. And that is quite obvious from the pragmatic form of all his poems; there is much focus on blanks, playing with letters and forms of the Poems, there is a new touch concerning the subject that each poem takes, in addition to the simplicity of expression. Anyway this touch modernization tend to be so dominant in the whole Poetic work. in addition to the over focus of Arabic elements in most of his poems. Concerning the stylistics, most of the poems represent a new form of this techniques, meaning that even with modernization, stylistics may come across all the forms of our speech.
My Personal Reaction:
Personally, the writer of this work used to be my teacher in several subject, during my study in the faculty, so as word, I admit that I enjoy this publication of Poems, mostly due to its witty style, and the simplicity of the Moroccan soul, away from the life complication, as a reader I got the feeling that these poems came from the soul of simplicity and childhood, so the least thing we can do is to enjoy it and forget about our backgrounds.
Recommendations:
I am not quite sure for whom I may recommend this Poems, but since the writer has won a prize from the British council in Morocco, I came to believe that most British people became familiar with the style of that writer. Thus I recommend this poems to all the funs of the Moroccan life, and those who have the intention to explore the main components of the Moroccan cultural life.
Displaying 1 of 1 review