Return to Childhood: The Memoir of a Modern Moroccan Woman (Modern Middle East Literature in Translation) Review

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Return to Childhood: The Memoir of a Modern Moroccan Woman (Modern Middle East Literature in Translation) ReviewThere are delightful passages in this memoir and there are interesting details of the Maroccan fight for independence. But there is little of how it felt to grow up in Marocco 50 years ago; and even less description of what the country or the country side was like or looked like.
What this book has in abundance, and it is quite impressive in this respect, is an attempt to transcribe conversations; it shows quite a lot of story-telling in its most intimate manner -- among family members. This repeated story-telling from three different generations reveals how villagers evolve and perpetuate biases or points of view that are then repeated from generation to generation.
But what this book lacks is clarity. I wonder if this was not a problem of translation from the Arabic. The oral stories are told often without a prior reference for the pronouns "her, she, him , or he," making it difficult to understand. Not once, not twice, but many, many times I had to read over and reread again the same story looking for a reference and more often than not ending up, just going on without having a grip on who said what about exactly whom. And it is my belief that, every time a careful reader has to stop and go back to read again and still be left in a state of uncertainty, something is wrong with that text. Because I believe that Ms. Abouzeid is a good writer, I have to blame the translator -- which in this case is unfortunately, Ms. Abouzeid herself. Three stars -- Two taken out for reading difficulty.Return to Childhood: The Memoir of a Modern Moroccan Woman (Modern Middle East Literature in Translation) Overview
Leila Abouzeid, whose novel Year of the Elephant has gone through six reprintings, has now translated her childhood memoir into English. Published in Rabat in 1993 to critical acclaim, the work brings to life the interlocking dramas of family ties and political conflict.

Against a background of Morocco's struggle for independence from French colonial rule, Abouzeid charts the development of personal relationships, between generations as well as between husbands and wives. Abouzeid's father is a central figure; as a strong advocate of Moroccan nationalism, he was frequently imprisoned by the French and his family forced to flee the capital. Si Hmed was a public hero, but the young daughter's memories of her famous father and of the family's plight because of his political activities are not so idyllic.

The memoir utilizes multiple voices, especially those of women, in a manner reminiscent of the narrative strategies of the oral tradition in Moroccan culture. Return to Childhood may also be classified as an autobiography, a form only now gaining respect as a valid literary genre in the Middle East. Abouzeid's own introduction and Elizabeth Fernea's foreword discuss this new development in Arabic literature.


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