Un joli chat blanc marche derrière moi

by Youssef Fadel

Balloute est un modeste bateleur de la place Jamaa el-Fna, Marrakech. Par un heureux ou malheureux hasard, il se retrouve fou du roi. Grce sa prsence au palais dans l'intimit de Sa Majest, il est en mesure de connatre les intrigues mesquines de la cour, la bassesse assume des courtisans, le rituel oblig de la domination et de la soumission, la cruaut capricieuse sans laquelle le roi n'est pas roi. Il finit aussi par comprendre que le pouvoir absolu d'un despote n'en supporte aucun autre, mme celui de le faire rire. Balloute a quitt le foyer conjugal quand son fils, Hassan, tait encore enfant. Ils ne se sont plus jamais revus depuis. Alors que ce dernier, fru de thtre, exerce sa verve satirique contre les grands du royaume, l'avis d'incorporation le surprend et il se retrouve enrl de force dans l'arme du Sahara, loin de sa femme qu'il aime passionnment. L, il fait l'exprience douloureuse d'un combat absurde contre un ennemi qui lui ressemble, sous la conduite d'un gnral aussi avide qu'incapable, et dcouvre amrement quel point le despotisme a corrompu la socit tout entire, y compris ceux qui prtendent s'y opposer. Les voix du pre et du fils se relaient dans une suite de squences o la dnonciation transparente de la tyrannie d'Hassan II est servie par une prose matrise, aussi spontane que le langage parl, et empreinte de navet malicieuse et d'humour noir.

Genres: Fiction, Morocco, Northern Africa

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Youssef Fadel (born 1949) is a Moroccan novelist and playwright. He was born in Casablanca. He was imprisoned by the government in the infamous Moulay al-Sheriff prison during the 1970s.He has written several plays and novels. His debut play The Barber in the Poor District was turned into a film by Mohamed Reggab. He has written nine novels, including Hashish (winner of the Grand Atlas Prize) and A Rare Blue Bird that Flies with Me (shortlisted for the Arabic Booker Prize). Jorge Aguadé studied the diglossic language used in his works "Des romans diglossiques: le cas de Youssef Fadel"(Cadiz University, Cadiz, Spain).

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...

Reviews

[Elaine]

Youssef Fadel has a brilliant premise: a story told by a father and son, both comedians. The elder is a jester to the King, and the younger an aspiring stand-up club comic. So although the novel is set against a tragic background -- class conflict, exploitation of women, and the war against the Polisario in the Sahara -- there are some incredibly funny scenes and often a comic twist. Though I cannot read Arabic, the English translation captured all these nuances and really captured the times and sensibility of Morocco in the 80s. A wonderful read (although the choice of the title still vexes me...), and characters I keep thinking about even after I closed the book.

[Lynn]

A beautifully written book. like poetry. Made me want to know so much more about Moroccan history.

[Ikram]

5 stars. if you ask me why? because im shocked and still confused about what happened by the end.

I picked this book blindly, as i sometimes do when im in a reading slump and dont know what to read. i always end up going back to moroccan literature, its almost a comfort genre for me.

The book is funny in a strange way. it tells the story of a father and his son who are separated, but somehow very similar in what happens to them. the comedy, the politics, the culture, it was all so fun to read about, especially through that funny sarcastic lens.

and why four kisses on the cheek? no one knows. again when you experience it every day i guess you just stop questioning it.

one is obsessed with the king, the other with a girl, and somehow both seem to meet their end through what they loved most. a jester and his son, both dying while loving and devoting their lives to what they loved most but that failed to love them back.

i dont know. i dont know what happened by the end. what was real? what was a dream? what was a memory? what actually happened?

and somehow i dont want to understand

[David]

There is nothing quite as tragic as a comedy and nothing quite as comedic as a tragedy. This book has plenty of both, all mixed together. It’s a bizarre situation, though as real as anything. A very worthwhile read.

[Elaine]

A wry look at 1980s Morocco from the dual perspectives of a father and son -- both comics. The father is the court jester to the king and the son is a stand-up comic, critical of the government, who finds himself conscripted into the military to fight the people of the Saharwi who are struggling for independence. Excellent translation from the Arabic!

[Ayah]

😍

[Kate]

Redundant writing style and the characters are misogynistic to the point that it's both exhausting and boring.

[Leona]

Well… I’m surprised I finished this book. I forgot how normalised misogynistic writing could be. Also, I didn’t get the humour. And, there were four sentences in total about the white cat.

[صوتٌ أبيض]

في البداية لم أستطع إكمالها
تركتها وعيني لم تزل ترمقها بنظرة بين يوم و آخر.
إلى أن حسمت الأمر بالأمس وبدأت بمواصلة قراءتها..
حاولت أولا أن أفهم عتبة النص الأولى
هذا العنوان الطويل والغريب!
تنبأت بأشياء وقلت علِّي في النهاية أدرك المغزى.

اليوم أنهيها
وأقول أن لا يقين لدي فما يخص هذا العنوان!
أعجبني أسلوب السرد التناوبي بين الأب وابنه.. ليس سردا عاديا
إنه غوص في عقول الشخصيات وسماع لكلامها قبل أن تنطق به.. أفكارها.. رؤاها وتطلعاتها.. وساوسها وترهاتها.
في البداية كان الأمر غريبا.. خاصة ترتيب الجمل العشوائي وكثرة تكرار الفكرة الواحدة بأكثر من صياغة،،كما يحدث في عقولنا تماما!
ثم راقت لي الفكرة بعد ذلك.. وأصبح الأمر مسليا.

أن يكتب يوسف فاضل هذه الرواية ويتحدث عن شخصيات سياسية لها وجودها فلا شك أن الرمز أو التعريض له حيز كبير في هذه الرواية.

الآن أدرك سر الإعجاب الذي أبدته دكتورة الأدب وهي تعطني هذه الرواية لأقرأها!
؛)

[Sirine]

Finally!

[Naili]

Figures de style intéressantes vers la fin...