During colonial occupation in Morocco, Tangier, unlike other Moroccan cities, was governed by an ... more During colonial occupation in Morocco, Tangier, unlike other Moroccan cities, was governed by an international administration of eight European countries. The International Zone was a melting pot that brought together native Moroccans and European residents who traveled to the city post-World War II. This unique social context gave rise to two distinct literary voices: one represented by the American novelist Paul Bowles and the other by the Moroccan oral storytellers of Tangier. This paper undertakes a comparative analysis of these two literary representations of the same place and era, juxtaposing American and Moroccan fiction. The central argument is that these writings present contrasting yet interdependent portrayals, reflecting the dual realities that coexisted in the international zone: the native experience and the foreign tourist’s perspective. By examining these parallel narratives, this study reveals the complex, multifaceted nature of life in Tangier during this period.
International Journal of English Language and Translation Studies, 2016
When Paul Bowles settled in the International zone of Tangier after WWII, he took up a project of... more When Paul Bowles settled in the International zone of Tangier after WWII, he took up a project of translating a group of young and poor uneducated oral storytellers from Tangier (Mohammed Mrabet, Larbi Layachi, Ahmed Yacoubi, and Abdesslam Boulaich). In his translation and writings about Morocco, Paul Bowles concentrated on two main features of the culture, mainly the popular and the oral. Accordingly, aim of this paper is to reveal the motivations behind Bowles’s reductionist approach in his representation of Morocco through his translations of Moroccan oral tradition. The paper also aims to demonstrate how Orientalism characterizes Bowles’s translations in its two main definitions; both as a reductionist form of representation and as a form of knowledge/ Power. The main argument is that in his concentration on only popular culture and the illiterate class of society in his representation of the culture, Bowles transmitted to the West a fragmented and incomplete image about the “ot...
Since the Cultural and Social turns in Translation Studies, strong light has been shed on the cri... more Since the Cultural and Social turns in Translation Studies, strong light has been shed on the critical role that the socio-cultural context of reception plays in the selection of a particular culture, author or a text for translation. As Carbonell (1996) argues, the motivation behind approaching and translating a text stems from the context where this text is going to be read and interpreted. Starting from this assumption, this paper places Paul Bowles’s translations of the oral stories of Tangier in the context of the American counter culture post World War II. The objective is to analyze the ways in which the interest and the expectations of the receiving culture during this period have conditioned Bowles’s selection and translation of the oral stories of Tangier. Being determined by the socio-cultural context and the expectations of the “Other”, the author argues that the translations of the oral stories of Tangier were read and interpreted in line with the reality of the “Other”, that is resistance in the context of the American counter-culture instead of resistance at home/ post-colonial Morocco. The paper concludes that translation in such contexts is a form of manipulation, for the intentions of the author and the translator are not the same. Therefore, meaning is “lost” as the text quits its original context of production (postcolonial Morocco) and becomes a novel about the “Other”.
Key words: American counter-culture, oral stories of Tangier, Paul Bowles, translation
When Paul Bowles settled in the International zone of Tangier after WWII, he took up a project of... more When Paul Bowles settled in the International zone of Tangier after WWII, he took up a project of translating a group of young and poor uneducated oral storytellers from Tangier (Mohammed Mrabet, Larbi Layachi, Ahmed Yacoubi, and Abdesslam Boulaich). In his translation and writings about Morocco, Paul Bowles concentrated on two main features of the culture, mainly the popular and the oral. Accordingly, aim of this paper is to reveal the motivations behind Bowles's reductionist approach in his representation of Morocco through his translations of Moroccan oral tradition. The paper also aims to demonstrate how Orientalism characterizes Bowles's translations in its two main definitions; both as a reductionist form of representation and as a form of knowledge/ Power. The main argument is that in his concentration on only popular culture and the illiterate class of society in his representation of the culture, Bowles transmitted to the West a fragmented and incomplete image about the " other. " Therefore, this paper comes to the conclusion that like most orientalist writings, Bowles's translations and writings about Morocco serve in reinforcing biased stereotypes about the East.
When Paul Bowles settled in the International zone of Tangier after WWII, he took up a project of... more When Paul Bowles settled in the International zone of Tangier after WWII, he took up a project of translating a group of young and poor uneducated oral storytellers from Tangier (Mohammed Mrabet, Larbi Layachi, Ahmed Yacoubi, and Abdesslam Boulaich). In his translation and writings about Morocco, Paul Bowles concentrated on two main features of the culture, mainly the popular and the oral. Accordingly, aim of this paper is to reveal the motivations behind Bowles's reductionist approach in his representation of Morocco through his translations of Moroccan oral tradition. The paper also aims to demonstrate how Orientalism characterizes Bowles's translations in its two main definitions; both as a reductionist form of representation and as a form of knowledge/ Power. The main argument is that in his concentration on only popular culture and the illiterate class of society in his representation of the culture, Bowles transmitted to the West a fragmented and incomplete image about the " other. " Therefore, this paper comes to the conclusion that like most orientalist writings, Bowles's translations and writings about Morocco serve in reinforcing biased stereotypes about the East.
During colonial occupation in Morocco, Tangier, unlike other Moroccan cities, was governed by an ... more During colonial occupation in Morocco, Tangier, unlike other Moroccan cities, was governed by an international administration of eight European countries. The International Zone was a melting pot that brought together native Moroccans and European residents who traveled to the city post-World War II. This unique social context gave rise to two distinct literary voices: one represented by the American novelist Paul Bowles and the other by the Moroccan oral storytellers of Tangier. This paper undertakes a comparative analysis of these two literary representations of the same place and era, juxtaposing American and Moroccan fiction. The central argument is that these writings present contrasting yet interdependent portrayals, reflecting the dual realities that coexisted in the international zone: the native experience and the foreign tourist’s perspective. By examining these parallel narratives, this study reveals the complex, multifaceted nature of life in Tangier during this period.
International Journal of English Language and Translation Studies, 2016
When Paul Bowles settled in the International zone of Tangier after WWII, he took up a project of... more When Paul Bowles settled in the International zone of Tangier after WWII, he took up a project of translating a group of young and poor uneducated oral storytellers from Tangier (Mohammed Mrabet, Larbi Layachi, Ahmed Yacoubi, and Abdesslam Boulaich). In his translation and writings about Morocco, Paul Bowles concentrated on two main features of the culture, mainly the popular and the oral. Accordingly, aim of this paper is to reveal the motivations behind Bowles’s reductionist approach in his representation of Morocco through his translations of Moroccan oral tradition. The paper also aims to demonstrate how Orientalism characterizes Bowles’s translations in its two main definitions; both as a reductionist form of representation and as a form of knowledge/ Power. The main argument is that in his concentration on only popular culture and the illiterate class of society in his representation of the culture, Bowles transmitted to the West a fragmented and incomplete image about the “ot...
Since the Cultural and Social turns in Translation Studies, strong light has been shed on the cri... more Since the Cultural and Social turns in Translation Studies, strong light has been shed on the critical role that the socio-cultural context of reception plays in the selection of a particular culture, author or a text for translation. As Carbonell (1996) argues, the motivation behind approaching and translating a text stems from the context where this text is going to be read and interpreted. Starting from this assumption, this paper places Paul Bowles’s translations of the oral stories of Tangier in the context of the American counter culture post World War II. The objective is to analyze the ways in which the interest and the expectations of the receiving culture during this period have conditioned Bowles’s selection and translation of the oral stories of Tangier. Being determined by the socio-cultural context and the expectations of the “Other”, the author argues that the translations of the oral stories of Tangier were read and interpreted in line with the reality of the “Other”, that is resistance in the context of the American counter-culture instead of resistance at home/ post-colonial Morocco. The paper concludes that translation in such contexts is a form of manipulation, for the intentions of the author and the translator are not the same. Therefore, meaning is “lost” as the text quits its original context of production (postcolonial Morocco) and becomes a novel about the “Other”.
Key words: American counter-culture, oral stories of Tangier, Paul Bowles, translation
When Paul Bowles settled in the International zone of Tangier after WWII, he took up a project of... more When Paul Bowles settled in the International zone of Tangier after WWII, he took up a project of translating a group of young and poor uneducated oral storytellers from Tangier (Mohammed Mrabet, Larbi Layachi, Ahmed Yacoubi, and Abdesslam Boulaich). In his translation and writings about Morocco, Paul Bowles concentrated on two main features of the culture, mainly the popular and the oral. Accordingly, aim of this paper is to reveal the motivations behind Bowles's reductionist approach in his representation of Morocco through his translations of Moroccan oral tradition. The paper also aims to demonstrate how Orientalism characterizes Bowles's translations in its two main definitions; both as a reductionist form of representation and as a form of knowledge/ Power. The main argument is that in his concentration on only popular culture and the illiterate class of society in his representation of the culture, Bowles transmitted to the West a fragmented and incomplete image about the " other. " Therefore, this paper comes to the conclusion that like most orientalist writings, Bowles's translations and writings about Morocco serve in reinforcing biased stereotypes about the East.
When Paul Bowles settled in the International zone of Tangier after WWII, he took up a project of... more When Paul Bowles settled in the International zone of Tangier after WWII, he took up a project of translating a group of young and poor uneducated oral storytellers from Tangier (Mohammed Mrabet, Larbi Layachi, Ahmed Yacoubi, and Abdesslam Boulaich). In his translation and writings about Morocco, Paul Bowles concentrated on two main features of the culture, mainly the popular and the oral. Accordingly, aim of this paper is to reveal the motivations behind Bowles's reductionist approach in his representation of Morocco through his translations of Moroccan oral tradition. The paper also aims to demonstrate how Orientalism characterizes Bowles's translations in its two main definitions; both as a reductionist form of representation and as a form of knowledge/ Power. The main argument is that in his concentration on only popular culture and the illiterate class of society in his representation of the culture, Bowles transmitted to the West a fragmented and incomplete image about the " other. " Therefore, this paper comes to the conclusion that like most orientalist writings, Bowles's translations and writings about Morocco serve in reinforcing biased stereotypes about the East.
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Papers by Hafida Mourad
Key words: American counter-culture, oral stories of Tangier, Paul Bowles, translation
Key words: American counter-culture, oral stories of Tangier, Paul Bowles, translation