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The Desert: Or, the Life and Adventures of Jubair Wali al-Mammi
Hailed as a masterpiece when it was first published in France in 1977, The
Desert tells the story of al-Mammi, a young exiled prince of a now-destroyed
Jewish kingdom in southern Morocco in the late fourteenth century. Fighting
battles in the service of kings and narrowly escaping imprisonment, the prince
travels the Islamic world absorbing lessons, often painfully, on how to govern
himself, as well as a country. At that same time, al-Mammi engages upon a
spiritual journey to obtain inner wisdom rather than material riches. Memmi
chronicles the prince’s fortunes as they rise and fall, drawing upon the traditions
of Maghrebian storytelling and Arabian tales to offer a highly imaginative and
allegorical novel that provocatively blends history with fiction.
Desert tells the story of al-Mammi, a young exiled prince of a now-destroyed
Jewish kingdom in southern Morocco in the late fourteenth century. Fighting
battles in the service of kings and narrowly escaping imprisonment, the prince
travels the Islamic world absorbing lessons, often painfully, on how to govern
himself, as well as a country. At that same time, al-Mammi engages upon a
spiritual journey to obtain inner wisdom rather than material riches. Memmi
chronicles the prince’s fortunes as they rise and fall, drawing upon the traditions
of Maghrebian storytelling and Arabian tales to offer a highly imaginative and
allegorical novel that provocatively blends history with fiction.
- GenresHistorical FictionAfrica
152 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1977
1 person is currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
Albert Memmi
68 books139 followersTunisian Jewish writer and essayist who migrated to France.
Born in Tunisia under French protectorate, from a Tunisian Jewish mother, Marguerite Sarfati, and a Tunisian-Italian Jewish father, François Memmi, he speaks French and Tunisian-Judeo-Arabic. He claims to be of Berber ancestry. He was educated in French primary schools, and continued on to the Carnot high school in Tunis, the University of Algiers where he studied philosophy, and finally the Sorbonne in Paris. Albert Memmi found himself at the crossroads of three cultures, and based his work on the difficulty of finding a balance between the East and the West.
His best-known nonfiction work is "The Colonizer and the Colonized", about the interdependent relationship of the two groups. It was published in 1957, a time when many national liberation movements were active. Jean-Paul Sartre wrote the preface. The work is often read in conjunction with Frantz Fanon's "Les damnés de la Terre" ("The Wretched of the Earth") and "Peau noire, masques blancs" ("Black Skin, White Masks") and Aimé Césaire's "Discourse on Colonialism." In October 2006, Memmi's follow-up to this work, titled "Decolonization and the Decolonized," was published. In this book, Memmi suggests that in the wake of global decolonization, the suffering of former colonies cannot be attributed to the former colonizers, but to the corrupt leaders and governments that control these states.
Born in Tunisia under French protectorate, from a Tunisian Jewish mother, Marguerite Sarfati, and a Tunisian-Italian Jewish father, François Memmi, he speaks French and Tunisian-Judeo-Arabic. He claims to be of Berber ancestry. He was educated in French primary schools, and continued on to the Carnot high school in Tunis, the University of Algiers where he studied philosophy, and finally the Sorbonne in Paris. Albert Memmi found himself at the crossroads of three cultures, and based his work on the difficulty of finding a balance between the East and the West.
His best-known nonfiction work is "The Colonizer and the Colonized", about the interdependent relationship of the two groups. It was published in 1957, a time when many national liberation movements were active. Jean-Paul Sartre wrote the preface. The work is often read in conjunction with Frantz Fanon's "Les damnés de la Terre" ("The Wretched of the Earth") and "Peau noire, masques blancs" ("Black Skin, White Masks") and Aimé Césaire's "Discourse on Colonialism." In October 2006, Memmi's follow-up to this work, titled "Decolonization and the Decolonized," was published. In this book, Memmi suggests that in the wake of global decolonization, the suffering of former colonies cannot be attributed to the former colonizers, but to the corrupt leaders and governments that control these states.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 12, 2024
Tunus'a dair bir şeyler yakalayabilmek, Tunus tarihinin izini takip edebilmek amacıyla okumaya başladığım bu kitaptan maalesef ki memnun kalmadım. Memmi'nin bir sosyolog olduğunu düşününce daha zengin bir anlatımla karşılaşacağımı düşünmüştüm. Hikaye yeterince doyurucu değil. Kitaptan yakalanacak tek nokta Kuzey Afrika siyasetinde işlerin ne kadar çabuk değişebileceği ve yöneticilerle halk arasındaki mesafe...
June 21, 2020
I feel a little guilty for giving this book such a low rating considering Memmi passed away last month, but...this book was terrible. I’m sorry. It’s a story about a man who wants revenge, who wants to take his kingdom back from his cousin, but it’s so boring and full of unnecessary racism and misogyny. The racism is perhaps a commentary on white colonizers, but it seems very, very strange that a Francophone author who wrote against colonialism would choose to depict racism in such a way. In any case, the misogyny can not be excused, and essentially nothing interesting happens before the boring, unsatisfying ending.
October 14, 2023
what if you wanted to read a book for pleasure
but god said you have 13 books assigned for this class
but god said you have 13 books assigned for this class
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews