Driss Chraibi

The Simple Past came out in 1954, and both in France and its author's native Morocco the book caused an explosion of fury. The protagonist, who shares the author's name, Driss, comes from a Moroccan family of means, his father a self-made tea merchant, the most devout of Muslims, quick to be provoked and ready to lash out verbally or physically, continually bent on subduing his timid wife and many children to his iron and ever-righteous will. He is known, simply, as the Lord, and Driss, who is in high school, is in full revolt against both him and the French colonial authorities, for whom, as much as for his father, he is no one. Driss Chraïbi's classic coming-of-age story is about colonialism, Islam, the subjection of women, and finding, as his novel does, a voice that is as cutting and coruscating as it is original and free.

The Simple Past

Le Passe Simple

Helgard Rost

Die Zivilisation, Mutter!

Driss Chraïbi

An English translation of a French novel which tells the story of an Arab woman who, encouraged by her sons, seeks knowledge of the outside world, eventually becoming an educator and activist.

Mother Comes of Age

In this novel the author describes life in post-independence Morocco in which a modern regime has taken over the structures left by the French, treating them as tools for further oppression rather than using them to liberate the people.

Chraibi: L'Enquête Au Pays

Roman ; [aus d. Franz.]

Diese Zivilisation, Mutter!

Roman aus Marokko

La civilisation, ma mère!

Beginning with an epilogue set in the present, this novel quickly moves back to the time of the generation after Muhammad—a time when North Africa, the home of the Berber peoples, was overrun by Arab armies. With strong characters and a compelling sense of place, Chraïbi demonstrates how the Berbers tried to maintain their cultural identity in the face of the overwhelmingly rapid and powerful spread of Islam throughout their world. First published in French in 1982.

Mother Spring

L'inspecteur Ali n'est jamais pressé, même quand la sécurité du monde est enjeu. A fortiori quand une huile du gouvernement marocain le convoque pour lui annoncer une macabre découverte: un cadavre au fond d'un puits dans le patio d'un riyad, un palais de Marrakech. Entre deux bouffées de kif et quelques tajines épicés, Ali mène l'enquête grâce à son traditionnel réseau d'indics, composé de femmes de ménage, de chauffeurs de taxi et de caïds de la drogue. Mais il déploie cette fois ses antennes beaucoup plus loin que d'habitude, du côté de la France, des États-Unis et de l'Afghanistan. Qui est donc le mort du riyad, de quel réseau islamiste était-il le chef ? De la mafia marocaine aux coffres-forts des banques suisses, en passant par les hautes sphères du renseignement occidental, un gigantesque jeu de piste se met en place, où Ali progresse nonchalamment vers les secrets les mieux gardés de la planète.

Driss Chraibi

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