Mohamed Choukri

يطالع القارئ من خلال هذه الرواية سيرة الروائي الذاتية فقد أفصح عما لا يمكن أن يقال.. عن خفايا إنسانية لا يفصح عنها تبقى قيد الكتمان. أتت الرواية لتحكي مأساة إنسان أبت ظروفه إلا أن يبقى في ظلمات الجهالة حتى العشرين من عمره فكانت حداثته انجرافاً في عالم البؤس حيث العنف وحده قوت المبعدين اليومي. لقد أتى النص مؤثراً حتى أن هذا العمل احتل موقعاً متميزاً في الأدب العربي المعاصر. وليس صدفة أن نشر بلغات أوروبية كثيرة قبل نشره بلغته العربية

الخبز الحافي

Driven by famine from their home in the Rif, Mohamed's family walk to Tangiers in search of a better life. But things are no better there. Eight of his siblings die of malnutrition & neglect & one is killed by his father in a fit of rage. This is a memoir of a young Moroccan boy's coming of age in a time of extreme poverty and degradation.

سيرة ذاتية- روائية

Paul Bowles

Choukri's book has become a classic of world literature.

For Bread Alone

The complete short stories of acclaimed Moroccan author Mohamed Choukri, translated into English and collected in one volume for the first time Mohamed Choukri’s vivid stories invite the reader to wander the streets of Tangier, the ancient coastal crossroads between Europe and Africa, and to meet its denizens at markets, beaches, cafés, and brothels. Choukri’s Tangier is a place where newborns are for sale, swindlers hawk the Prophet’s shoes, and boys collect trash to sell for food. Choukri says that “writing is a protest, not a parade.” And in these thirty-one stories he privileges the voices of those ignored by society: the abused, the abandoned, the addicted. The tales are at once vibrant local vignettes and profound reflections on the lives, sufferings, and hopes of Choukri’s fellow Tangerines.

The Complete Short Stories of Mohamed Choukri

Tales of Tangier

Pain NU. R'Cit Autobiographique

Ergui a cabeça para o céu. É mais nu que a terra.

Quando a fome grassa no Rife, uma família parte para Tânger em busca de uma vida melhor. Nas noites passadas ao relento, nos becos da cidade, o pequeno Muhammad, orgulhoso e insolente, descobre a injustiça e a compaixão, a tirania da autoridade, a loucura labiríntica da miséria, o consolo das drogas, do sexo e do álcool. E é na prisão que um companheiro lhe desvenda as maravilhas da leitura, mudando para sempre a sua vida. Estreia do autor em Portugal, em tradução directa do árabe, Pão Seco foi publicado originalmente em 1973, na tradução inglesa de Paul Bowles (For Bread Alone), quando os editores de língua árabe não estavam ainda preparados para o caos narrativo, a linguagem crua e a indisciplina gramatical que desafiavam a tradição e o «bom gosto». «Verdadeiro documento do desespero humano» (Tennessee Williams), obra de culto proibida até recentemente nos países árabes por tocar em tabus da sociedade magrebina, este avassalador romance autobiográfico consagrou o autor e continua a iluminar o caminho de várias gerações de renegados marroquinos.

Pão Seco

جان جنيه في طنجة - تينسي وليامز في طنجة

الخيمة

Muḥammad Shukrī

Choukri's classic and moving work, which has already been translated into more than ten languages,speaks for an entire generation of North Africans. Born in the Rif, Choukri moved with his family to Tangier at a time of great famine. His childhood was spent in abject poverty; eight of his brothers and sisters died of malnutrition or neglect. During his adolescence, described here with its attendant erotic escapades, Choukri worked for a time as servant to a French family. He then returned to Tangier, where he experienced the violence of the 1952 independence riots. At the age of 20, and still illiterate, he took the decision to learn to read and write classical Arabic - a decision, which transformed his life. After mastering the language, he became a teacher and writer, finally being awarded the chair of Arabic Literature at Ibn Batuta College in Tangier.

"As I read Choukrirs"s notes, I saw and heard Jean Genet as clearly as if I had been watching a film of him. To achieve such precision simply by reporting what happened and what was said, one must have a rare clarity of vision."-From William Burroughsrs" introduction to Jean Genet in TangierTangier, "the most extraordinary and mysterious city in the world," according to Mohamed Choukri, was a haven for many Western writers in the early twentieth century. Paul Bowles, Jean Genet, and Tennessee Williams all spent time there, and all were befriended by Choukri.Collected here together for the first time in English are Choukrirs"s delightful recollections of these encounters, offering a truly fresh insight into the lives of these cult figures.The sights and sounds of 1970s Tangier are brought vividly alive, as are the larger-than-life characters of these extraordinary men, through ordinary everyday events.ls"What Yacoubi would really like is a complete harem,rs" I said. We laughed. ls"One handsome boy is enough for me,rs" said Tennessee. ls"A boy who just happens by.rs" ls"So you donrs"t want a harem?rs" I said. ls"No. Harems are always very tiring. Theyrs"re no fun.rs"Mohamed Choukri (19352003) is one of North Africars"s most controversial and widely read authors. After a childhood of poverty and petty crime, Choukri learned to read and write at the age of twenty. He then became a teacher and writer, finally being awarded the chair of Arabic literature at Ibn Batuta College in Tangier. His works include For Bread Alone and Streetwise (both available from Telegram).

In Tangier

20 Jahre nach seinem Tod: Die Wiederentdeckung des meistgelesenen Schriftstellers Marokkos, der jahrzehntelang wie Salman Rushdie auf der berüchtigten schwarzen Liste der Islamisten stand. Ein Leben im Marokko der 1950er Jahre: Der zwanzigjährige Erzähler ist ein Rauf-, Sauf- und Hurenbold und zugleich ein ängstliches, einsames Kind. Nun ist er begierig darauf, lesen zu lernen. In 27 Kapiteln erzählt er, direkt und schonungslos, von einem Leben auf Messers Schneide, von den Tagen in der Schule in Larache und fiebrigen Nächten in Tanger. Darin verwoben die Gefühle und Erinnerungen: die zitternden Hände bei den ersten Schreibversuchen, die Jagd nach Essbarem, die Kälte und die Sehnsucht nach Rausch und Leidenschaft. Um zu Geld zu kommen, lässt er sich auf krumme Geschäfte ein. Das Geld braucht er nicht in erster Linie für Essen und Bleibe, sondern für Haschisch, Wein und Prostituierte. Doch immer mehr dringt Mohamed in die für ihn neue Welt der Bücher ein, und unmerklich geht eine Wandlung in ihm vor. »Mohamed Choukris Leben ist spannender, poetischer, verzweifelter und wilder, als jeder Roman sein könnte. Und er hat es in blendenden Bildern festgehalten, die das Lesen zu einem Erlebnis machen – zu einem Erlebnis, das aufwühlt, das im Schrecken fasziniert.« SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG

Autobiographischer Roman

Zeit der Fehler

Ein Klassiker der Weltliteratur aus Marokko Mohamed Choukri erzählt seine Kindheit und Jugend in Marokko: Der Vater ist Berber-Bauer in einem kleinen Ort im Rif-Gebirge, wo Choukri 1935 geboren wurde. Die Hungersnot treibt die Familie in die verheißungsvolle Stadt, nach Tanger. Aber auch hier finden sie nichts als Elend und Armut. Die Mülltonnen machen die herumstreunenden Kinder nicht satt. Der Schrei nach Brot wird dem jüngeren Bruder zum Verhängnis: Vom Jähzorn der Verzweiflung übermannt, erwürgt ihn der Vater und vertuscht sein Verbrechen. Mohamed bricht mit den Eltern, er schlägt sich als Dieb und Bettler, als Strichjunge und Spieler durchs Leben. Als das Buch 1982 auf Arabisch erschien, wurde es aufgrund seiner Offenheit und Radikalität verboten. Heute zählt »Das nackte Brot« zusammen mit »Zeit der Fehler«, dessen Fortsetzung, zu den Klassikern der Weltliteratur. »Dieses Buch ist ergreifend, zum Schmunzeln, zum Jauchzen – es ist zum Heulen schön.« DIE ZEIT

Roman

Das nackte Brot

The complete short stories of acclaimed Moroccan author Mohamed Choukri, translated into English and collected in one volume for the first time Mohamed Choukri's vivid stories invite the reader to wander the winding streets of Tangier, the ancient coastal crossroads between Europe and Africa, and to meet its denizens at markets, beaches, cafés, and brothels. Choukri's Tangier is a place where newborns are for sale, swindlers hawk the Prophet's shoes to tourists, and boys collect trash to sell for food. These thirty-one stories, in one English collection for the first time, are translated in a simple, straightforward manner. Choukri privileges the voices of those ignored by society: alcoholics and addicts, the mentally ill and the physically disabled, abused single mothers and abandoned orphans. He could not write about the "milk of birds" or of "angelic beauty," Choukri said. "Writing is a protest, not a parade." Bursting with intensity and conjuring daily life in stunning detail, these stories are at once vibrant local vignettes and profound reflections on the lives, sufferings, and hopes of Choukri's fellow Tangerines.

In his early twenties Choukri takes the momentous decision to learn to read and write, and joins a children's class at the local state school in Tangier. When not at school he hangs out in cafés, drinking and smoking kif. Some nights he sleeps in a doss-house, but mostly he sleeps in mosques or on the street. He befriends many 'lowlife' characters, while the café habitués help him with his Arabic and the local prostitutes take him home, providing some human solace. Choukri's determination to educate himself, and his compassion for those with whom he shares his life on the streets is heartfelt and inspirational. 'As a writer, he is in an enviable position, though he paid a high price for it in suffering.' -- Paul Bowles 'Choukri's irrepressible, ultimately indomitable spirit is most touching and human.' -- The Independent 'Choukri is a powerful teller of stories. His telling of oppression is vivid and remarkable.' -- Morning Star

Streetwise

Choukri's classic and moving work, which has already been translated into more than ten languages, speaks for an entire generation of North Africans. Born in the Rif, Choukri moved with his family to Tangier at a time of great famine. His childhood was spent in abject poverty; eight of his brothers and sisters died of malnutrition or neglect. During his adolescence, described here with its attendant erotic escapades, Choukri worked for a time as servant to a French family. He then returned to Tangier, where he experienced the violence of the 1952 independence riots. At the age of 20, and still illiterate, he took the decision to learn to read and write classical Arabic - a decision, which transformed his life. After mastering the language, he became a teacher and writer, finally being awarded the chair of Arabic Literature at Ibn Batuta College in Tangier.

Driven by famine from their home in the Rif, Mohamed's family walks to Tangier in search of a better life. But things are no better there. Eight of Mohamed's siblings die of malnutrition and neglect, and one is killed by his father in a fit of rage. On moving to another province Mohamed learns how to charm and steal, and discovers the joys of drugs, sex and alcohol. Proud, insolent and afraid of no one, he returns to Tangier, where he is caught up in the violence of the 1952 independence riots. It is here, during a short spell in a filthy Moroccan jail, that a fellow inmate kindles Mohamed's life-altering love of literature. 'A true document of human desperation, shattering in its impact.' Tennessee Williams 'Its unrelenting realism has produced a masterpiece ... In Choukri's African Islamic coastal cities the nightmares are of fathers killing children and the agony of hunger. Choukri's memories take him from famine in the Rif to Tangier and Oran, a world of crime, paid-for sex and of living poor ... It is an urban pain where every day "the alleys swallow me up and spew me out." A book to read, cherish and remember - and to show us again why we need books as well as bread.' Morning Star '(An) extraordinarily vivid, uncensored immediacy ... Using only undemonstrative prose, and asking for no special sympathy, Choukri conveys the experience of struggling to survive in a harsh world of dusty streets and unforgiving sunlight.' Guardian 'Five stars ... Achingly elegant ... Choukri's irrepressible, ultimately indomitable spirit is most touching and human.' Independent 'Richly descriptive and engaging ... an honest and vivid account. ... Definitely an enjoyable and worthwhile read.' Socialist Review 'A cult classic ... Choukri's text has become a staple on the syllabi of modern Arabic, comparative literature, and post-colonial studies programs.' Daily Star 'The most poetic exploration of that world of vice, coffee, conversation and intrigue ... One of the most widely read modernist novels in the Arab world.' Outsideleft.com

Mohamed Choukri

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