Mohamed Choukri
Mohamed Choukri | |
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Native name | محمد شكري |
Born | Ayt Chiker, Nador, Morocco | 15 July 1935
Died | 15 November 2003 Rabat, Morocco | (aged 68)
Resting place | Marshan cemetery |
Occupation | Novelist, autobiographer |
Literary movement | Moroccan literature |
Notable works | For Bread Alone |
Moroccan literature |
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Moroccan writers |
Forms |
Criticism and awards |
See also |
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Mohamed Choukri (Arabic: محمد شكري, Berber: ⵎⵓⵃⴰⵎⵎⴻⴷ ⵛⵓⴽⵔⵉ) (15 July 1935 – 15 November 2003) was a Moroccan author and novelist who is best known for his internationally acclaimed autobiography For Bread Alone (al-Khubz al-Hafi), which was described by the American playwright Tennessee Williams as "a true document of human desperation, shattering in its impact".
Choukri was born in 1935 in Ayt Chiker (Ayt Chiker, hence his adopted family name: Choukri / Chikri), a small village in the
In the 1960s, in the cosmopolitan Tangier, he met Paul Bowles, Jean Genet and Tennessee Williams. Choukri's first writing was published in Al Adab (monthly review of Beirut) in 1966,[1] a story entitled "Al-Unf ala al-shati" ("Violence on the Beach"). International success came with the English translation of Al-khoubz Al-Hafi (For Bread Alone, Telegram Books) by Paul Bowles in 1973. The book was translated into French by Tahar Ben Jelloun in 1980 (Éditions Maspero), published in Arabic in 1982 and censored in Morocco from 1983 to 2000. The book was later translated into 30 languages.
His main works are his autobiographical trilogy, beginning with For Bread Alone, followed by Zaman Al-Akhtaâ aw Al-Shouttar (Time of Mistakes or Streetwise, Telegram Books) and finally Faces. He also wrote collections of short stories in the 1960s/1970s (Majnoun Al-Ward, The Flower Freak, 1980; Al-Khaima, The Tent, 1985). Likewise, he is known for his accounts of his encounters with the writers Paul Bowles, Jean Genet and Tennessee Williams (Jean Genet and Tennessee Williams in Tangier, 1992, Jean Genet in Tangier, 1993, Jean Genet, Suite and End, 1996, Paul Bowles: Le Reclus de Tanger, 1997). See also In Tangier, Telegram Books, 2008, for all three in one volume.
Choukri died of cancer on 15 November 2003 at the military hospital of Rabat. He was buried on 17 November at the Marshan cemetery in Tangier, with the audience of the minister of culture, numerous government officials, personalities and the spokesman of the king of Morocco. Before he died, Choukri created a foundation, Mohamed Choukri (president, Mohamed Achaâri), owning his copyrights, his manuscripts and personal writings. Before his death, he provided for his servant of almost 22 years.
Early years
Mohamed Choukri was born to a poor family in Had, Bni Chiker in the
Learning how to read and write
He met someone willing to help him learn to read and write in
Despite the criticism, Choukri's daring and exceedingly frank style won him literary fame. He had an association with the writer and composer Paul Bowles, an American expat who lived in Tangier, for decades. They worked on the translation of Choukri's semi-autobiographical work For Bread Alone in 1973, and Bowles arranged for the novel to be published in the United Kingdom through Peter Owen.
Censorship of For Bread Alone
Later life
Choukri believed he had secured that which was most important to him: a posthumous home for his literary work.
His last will and testament, in which he left his entire estate to a foundation that was to be run jointly by five presidents: "After Choukri's death, this document disappeared without a trace," says Roberto de Hollanda, who was the author's literary agent for many years.
Securing his literary legacy was of the utmost importance to Choukri, but the promises that were made to him were not kept: "The decision was whether to give it to a European or an American university or whether to entrust it to a Moroccan institution," the literary agent explains.
Choukri chose the Moroccan option. For one thing, he was afraid that the government might stop funding his expensive cancer treatment if he gave away the rights to his work to a foreign entity. On the other hand, it would have been particularly shameful to have given them to one of the countries that had formerly colonized and oppressed Morocco.[3]
Films
For Bread Alone was adapted to film by
Quotations
When I arrived, there were two Tangier: the colonialist and international Tangier and the Arabic Tangier, made of misery and ignorance. At these times, to eat, I combed the garbage. The European ones preferably, because they were richer.
I cannot write about the milk of birds, the gentle stranglehold of the angelic beauty, grasps of dew, the cascade of lions, the heavy breast of females. I cannot write with a crystal's paintbrush. For me, writing is a protest, not a parade.
I saw that writing could also be a way to expose, to protest against those who have stolen my childhood, my teenage hood and a piece of my youthfulness. At that moment, my writing became committed.
There's, in the Moroccan society, a more conservative faction. Those people judge my works as depraved. In my books, there's nothing against the regime. I don't talk about politics or religion. But, what annoys the conservatives, is to notice I criticize my father. The father is sacred in the Arabic-Muslim society.
Works
- For Bread Alone, 1973
- The Tent, short stories, 1985
- Time of Errors, also called "Streetwise" 1992
- Jean Genet and Tennessee Williams in Tanger, 1992
- Jean Genet in Tanger, 1993
- Madman of the Roses, Short stories 1993
- Jean Genet, Suite and End, 1996
- Zoco Chico, 1996
- Faces, 1996
- The Internal Market, 1997
- Paul Bowles, le Reclus de Tanger, 1997
Compilations in English
- Tales of Tangier, trans. Jonas Elbousty (Yale University Press, 2023)
See also
References
- ^ "Moroccan writer Mohamed Choukri's rise from poverty to universal recognition", Magharebia, 2 October 2005.
- ISBN 9781137477583.
- ^ "A Time of Mistakes". Archived from the original on 27 November 2010. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
Bibliography
- Mohamed Choukri, 1935-2003, Oussama Zekri, (French)
- "Le pain nu de Mohamed Choukri: une lecture plurielle", par Salah NATIJ, in website Ma'duba / Invitation à l'adab (French)
- Le pain nu de Mohamed Choukri et l'aventure de la traduction, par Salah NATIJ, in website Ma'duba / Invitation à l'adab (French)
- Hassan Daoud, L'homme qui savait ce qu'écrire veut dire, (French)
- Le poète aux pieds nus, Hanan Kassab-Hassan, (French)
- L'enfant terrible de la littérature arabe et écrivain maudit, Hicham Raji, (French)
- Mohamed Choukri Biography by Kenneth Lisenbee (English)
- Obituary, Mohamed Choukri, Madman of the roses, November 2003, (English)