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smugglers. The situation at home didn't improve however, his father was a cruel despot, and
Choukri accused him of murdering his wife and his younger brother Kader. After a family dispute, he left them at 11 years old, living on the streets of Tangier, pilfering to survive, and occasionally resorting to smuggling and prostitution. At the age of 20, he'd met someone willing to teach him to read and write.
840:
674:
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
583:
Returning to
Tangier in the 1960s, he continued to frequent bars and brothels, and began to write his story in Arabic, forthrightly and showing no reserve when detailing sexual experiences, which was utterly at odds with the mores of Morocco and the Arab world at the time, being met with harsh
720:
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
554:
and then to
Tangier. Through his adolescent years, Choukri worked many jobs to survive, including serving a French family in the Rif of French Algeria, and guiding sailors who arrived in Tangier, managing to learn Spanish that way. He found himself in the company of prostitutes, thieves and
670:
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.
526:. 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,
666:
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.
709:
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
650:
militants, which the government does little to prevent," in fact, the
Egyptian government engaged in book banning in that period on a wide scale. Dr. Mehrez was threatened with sexual harassment proceedings and expulsion, the book
703:
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
419:, surrounded by misery, prostitution, violence and drug abuse. At the age of 20, he decided to learn how to read and write and later became a schoolteacher. His family name Choukri is connected to the name Ayt Chiker which is the
615:
became an international success when published in
English, but the book also caused a furor in the Arab world. When the Arabic edition emerged, it was prohibited in Morocco, on the authority of the Interior Minister,
715:
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.
423:
tribe cluster he belonged to before fleeing hunger to Tangier. It is most likely that he adopted this name later in Tangier because in the rural Rif family names were rarely registered.
620:, following the advice of the religious authorities. It was said to have offended by its references to teenage sexual experiences and drug abuse. This censorship ended in 2000, and
632:
due to some sexually explicit passages, prompting some observers to criticize the "ban" and blame government censorship. The incident was preceded by the removal by order of
444:(monthly review of Beirut) in 1966, a story entitled "Al-Unf ala al-shati" ("Violence on the Beach"). International success came with the English translation of
415:
province, Morocco. He was raised in a very poor family. He ran away from his tyrannical father and became a homeless child living in the poor neighbourhoods of
460:
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.
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was examined by parliament, and the academic and literary community largely supported her use of the novel through a letter-writing campaign.
587:
Despite the criticism, Choukri's daring and exceedingly frank style won him literary fame. He had an association with the writer and composer
351:
171:
1056:
530:), owning his copyrights, his manuscripts and personal writings. Before his death, he provided for his servant of almost 22 years.
499:, 1985). Likewise, he is known for his accounts of his encounters with the writers Paul Bowles, Jean Genet and Tennessee Williams (
1081:
591:, an American expat who lived in Tangier, for decades. They worked on the translation of Choukri's semi-autobiographical work
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region of Morocco, during a famine. He was one of many children and had an abusive, violent father. His mother tongue was
238:
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was removed from the syllabus of a modern Arabic literature course at the American University in Cairo taught by Dr.
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November 2003) was a Moroccan author and novelist who is best known for his internationally acclaimed autobiography
575:, which is not readily intelligible with Standard Arabic. In 1956 (the year of Morocco's independence) he left for
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967:"Le pain nu de Mohamed Choukri: une lecture plurielle", par Salah NATIJ, in website Ma'duba / Invitation à l'adab
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Choukri believed he had secured that which was most important to him: a posthumous home for his literary work.
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Novel and Nation in the Muslim World: Literary Contributions and National Identities
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Choukri was born in 1935 in Ayt Chiker (Ayt Chiker, hence his adopted family name:
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censure from religious and conservative forces in Morocco and elsewhere.
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Choukri died of cancer on 15 November 2003 at the military hospital of
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as "a true document of human desperation, shattering in its impact".
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Mohamed Choukri was born to a poor family in Had, Bni Chiker in the
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483:. He also wrote collections of short stories in the 1960s/1970s (
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His main works are his autobiographical trilogy, beginning with
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He met someone willing to help him learn to read and write in
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language. Fleeing poverty, his family migrated to the city of
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L'enfant terrible de la littérature arabe et écrivain maudit
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Le pain nu de Mohamed Choukri et l'aventure de la traduction
976:, par Salah NATIJ, in website Ma'duba / Invitation à l'adab
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519:, Telegram Books, 2008, for all three in one volume.
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426:In the 1960s, in the cosmopolitan Tangier, he met
392:), which was described by the American playwright
558:
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602:
456:in 1973. The book was translated into French by
903:Daniella Kuzmanovic, Elisabeth Özdalga (2015).
1019:Obituary, Mohamed Choukri, Madman of the roses
675:had formerly colonized and oppressed Morocco.
345:
501:Jean Genet and Tennessee Williams in Tangier
750:Jean Genet and Tennessee Williams in Tanger
624:was finally published in Morocco. In 1999,
438:. Choukri's first writing was published in
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984:L'homme qui savait ce qu'écrire veut dire
646:. While some blamed "intimidation from
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378:) (15 July 1935 – 15
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746:, also called "Streetwise" 1992
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559:Learning how to read and write
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479:, Telegram Books) and finally
469:Zaman Al-Akhtaâ aw Al-Shouttar
1:
1082:Deaths from cancer in Morocco
1012:Biography by Kenneth Lisenbee
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813:(Yale University Press, 2023)
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1062:Moroccan short story writers
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16:Moroccan author (1935–2003)
10:
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959:Mohamed Choukri, 1935-2003
569:Moroccan vernacular Arabic
407:), a small village in the
907:. Springer. p. 105.
768:Jean Genet, Suite and End
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509:Jean Genet, Suite and End
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740:, short stories, 1985
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505:Jean Genet in Tangier
452:, Telegram Books) by
929:"A Time of Mistakes"
764:, Short stories 1993
756:Jean Genet in Tanger
226:Criticism and awards
1077:People from Tangier
935:on 27 November 2010
868:Moroccan literature
787:The Internal Market
762:Madman of the Roses
546:, a dialect of the
141:Moroccan literature
122:Moroccan literature
99:Moroccan literature
515:, 1997). See also
436:Tennessee Williams
394:Tennessee Williams
893:, 2 October 2005.
458:Tahar Ben Jelloun
446:Al-khoubz Al-Hafi
411:mountains in the
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51:15 July 1935
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1042:2003 deaths
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1023:, (English)
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618:Driss Basri
589:Paul Bowles
534:Early years
454:Paul Bowles
428:Paul Bowles
275:Ben Jelloun
172:Playwrights
31:Native name
1031:Categories
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963:, (French)
891:Magharebia
874:References
774:Zoco Chico
698:Quotations
659:Later life
597:Peter Owen
517:In Tangier
477:Streetwise
432:Jean Genet
260:El Majdoub
187:Historians
87:Occupation
47:1935-07-15
1014:(English)
809:, trans.
493:Al-Khaima
369:محمد شكري
367:(Arabic:
182:Essayists
167:Novelists
151:Tamazight
74:, Morocco
57:, Morocco
35:محمد شكري
978:(French)
969:(French)
939:2 August
818:See also
738:The Tent
648:Islamist
643:Muhammad
640:'s book
511:, 1996,
507:, 1993,
503:, 1992,
497:The Tent
491:, 1980;
295:Mernissi
285:El Maleh
252:See also
710:parade.
704:richer.
577:Larache
552:Tétouan
548:Amazigh
544:Riffian
441:Al Adab
421:Amazigh
417:Tangier
401:Choukri
373:Amazigh
290:Chraîbi
270:Choukri
239:Critics
911:
796:, 1997
790:, 1997
782:, 1996
776:, 1996
770:, 1996
758:, 1993
752:, 1992
734:, 1973
573:Darija
405:Chikri
380:
310:Qamari
280:Zafzaf
218:Poetry
146:Arabic
780:Faces
726:Works
679:Films
524:Rabat
481:Faces
413:Nador
265:Awzal
213:Novel
205:Forms
177:Poets
72:Rabat
55:Nador
941:2010
909:ISBN
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62:Died
41:Born
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