"When all you have to say about yourself is shocking, you go away forever." This phrase sums up beautifully the life of Malika Mokeddem, living testimony of how, through writing may gain freedom. Freedom of thought which disperses the clouds that hinder the freedom of action, yet truly dramatic circumstances as those that can live a woman caught between Islamic fundamentalism and Western racism. Originating
Kenadsa, en pleno desierto oriental de Argelia donde nació en 1949, Malika narra en su autobiografía El desconsuelo de los insumisos (El Cobre Ediciones, 2006, Traducción del francés, Pilar Jimeno Barrera), su transición de niñita escuálida que duerme apelotonada con numerosos hermanos, padres, tíos y abuela paterna, a prestigiada nefróloga y escritora, amenazada de muerte, etapas divididas en un “Aquí” y un “Allá” que marchan paralelamente: “(…) Los integristas amenazan con pasar a cuchillo a los que pecan con la pluma. Formo parte de los que, clavados a una página o a una pantalla, responden con diatribas al deterioro de la vida, a las locuras knives, the eagerness of the Kalashnikov.. " Malika's rebellion is rooted in the stories of his grandmother, who encouraged her desire to attend school in a temporary space where it was not uncommon for a girl to study, and even less with the passion with which hosted Malika books. Since childhood achieved a series of conquests, therefore, that yes, their access to education but also a belligerent temperament, the most unusual of a room of her own: the "guest room", which is Malika empowers the poor, to found in it a kind of personal realm where books and books prevailed, absolute anomaly that neither his father nor his mother dared to censure with sufficient power. In its unalloyed reading habits calls it a form of resistance, at least in its early stages, because later you will find a way of resistance even more obvious: "Entrenched in the guest room, I repeat to myself:" Never servant, no. I'm the guest "(...) In the midst of an oral world, live cornered in my books. Books are my only guests. Even I have installed three shelves in the guest room. It's my little revolution proof that I am becoming a stranger to mine. "(P. 91). In fact, although his mother said he was separated from her daughter by a wall of books, parent, or guardian of a well, not much effort to prevent the child do his will, however unfortunate that with so great intelligence, with such a temper, Malika not man. Later include the father, a good man for sure, that the effort of her daughter is not in vain, that the praises not only her but all women of their race, including the beloved grandmother of Malika.
Educated in a tolerant form of Islam (which does not mean, as discussed below, that atrocities are not committed to preserve the idea of \u200b\u200binferiority in women), Malika, the youngest of ten children, will be despised, and from within family and his own mother as a woman and the color of their skin, which is to his grandmother, "the second sex of the worst race", it is called, not without irony. Being a woman, dark-skinned Muslim and continues to carry problems when you win the right to study medicine at university in Oran, and then to practice their specialty in Montpellier, which is dedicated to those like her, but also lack legal residency in the country. Married to a Frenchman through which it has obtained citizenship, regardless of the great love that binds to it (the writing of his autobiography by relieving their pain after marital separation), Malika get low visibility as a surgeon because of their work almost clandestine and yet excel in the field of French literature, and even received a tribute in his home country after publishing his first book, The Men Who Tread (1990, Chambéry Awards Littré first novel and the Algerian Foundation Nourrendine Alba ), next to the poet Tahar Djaout, it would be one of the first Algerian intellectuals living in France, murdered by Islamists in 1993, at 39 years old: "Neither Djaout nor I translated into Arabic in Algeria. The first translation of The Men Who Tread on the language will come ten years later in a neighboring country, Morocco. Tahar Djaout was killed. The founding members we gave the award also went into exile "(p. 84). Malika survive more than one attack, indeed, refuse to leave their medical practice and, above all, to stop writing exactly what you think about the injustices in his country. Earlier, at fifteen, has challenged an outrageous mob when walking without a veil for a place, virtually inviting the stoning episode precisely rescues men walking, but is narrating in the third person singular, attributing the traumatic experience Leila's character: "(...) I know now that violence has played a vital role in achieving my future freedom. "(p. 109).
One of the more recent novels Malika, the only so far published in Mexico, The Century of Locusts (Era, 2003, Prix Mediterranée Maghreb Afrique Writers Association of French Language), also translated by Pilar Jimenez Barrera that, as revealed in his autobiography, is inspired by the grandmother told her stories, the same small impact by telling how his mother died, the mother of the grandmother, her daughter clinging to the teat. But not one but many are the themes that emerge in The Century of locusts, even though the protagonists are well defined: Mahmud and his daughter Yasmina (inspired the grandmother of Malika). If I am forced to appoint a central theme that would be, precisely, writing as an exercise of full freedom. Mahmud, which bears the name adopted by the adventurer Isabelle Eberhardt writing when it was passing through the desert Bedouin to go (and who Mahmud says he admires above all poets, like Malika itself that repeatedly mentioned in his autobiography) is condemned to wandering after it has been expelled from their land by Rumis (Christians). In the vastness of the desert is multiplied hyperbole of freedom, return treasure, unique heritage to stand by the wandering poet. In this sense, Malika highlights the true essence of Islam, Mahmud characterized a genuine follower of the Koran. Surprisingly, first, his concept of women. Before Yasmina born, dreams of having a daughter through which "avenge" the subject suffered by his mother, "(...) His daughter laugh. His eyes would not know shame, his nights would not suffer nightmares. His daughter would receive an education, would be free and happy. Avenge his mother (...)" (p. 58). Women, he says, they have saved. Malika Mahmoud treats her with tenderness and indulgence with which the great European authors have treated their female protagonists. A man who, like all exceptional man, holds virtues attributed to the feminine nature such as sweetness, sensitivity and devotion. More than Muslim, Mahmud is universal. Unreservedly loves his wife and share the housework with her.
But that same need to be better the rest of men, it happens, it takes to become an outlaw. Will find the remains of his grandmother on the ground that he was taken away, obsessed with giving decent burial, and in the interim a Rumi is dead. Of course blame Mahmud who is forced to flee. Along the way hundreds of adventures await you and dangers, including a dreadful plague of locusts, but in general nature seems to welcome with open arms, and even the most terrible scenes that give rise to Malika describe the desert as no one, becoming to recreate it in his autobiography. The effectiveness of such descriptions is that suddenly the page is transformed into oil and letters, in strokes. Rather than describing the desert, Malika writes the desert. Not only the magnificent display of flora and fauna, the sensations of touch a lobster or to feel the bones of the beloved grandmother. Along the way, Mahmud know love in the arms of a black slave to the naming Nejma ("Star" in Arabic), but that literally is called "daughter-of-the-dog" for having been raised by a dog. Nejma Mahmud flees towards bringing the dream of freedom for your pet, Rabha, also virtual sister milk. Falling in love with a slave Black is another privilege that Mahmud pay dearly to be the victim of a hate crime. Yasmina, the fruit of that love, inherited from the beauty and dark complexion of the mother, will be forced to follow his father in his nomadic life, although the trauma of witnessing the rape and murder of that takes away the words: writing becomes the only link between it and the poet who accompanies his father.
Malika, who as Yasmina is a black Muslim, is also, as Mahmud, triply exiled. "(...) Writing became my territory, my exile, "says Mahmud (p. 126). The writer, still living in his hometown, is an exile by genetics. And Yasmina, raised by a poet in the vastness of the desert, unaware of the absurd bonds in that society contains its women. "Raised by a man, a poet, has escaped from the female mold of tradition and ignores the traditions imposed on women everywhere." (P. 194). Yasmina learned the trade from his father and for the Traveller community in which it operates, literally said, a woman who writes is like a mangy dog, is useless. But the stories his father and she loves writing for four hands who read them, like the snake flute. Malika says through Mahmud: "I want to walk. Walk like writing. Write the steps in the words, words of the steps, in the highlands, skirting the desert. And in the stillness of writing in open places, I will not go into anything but hug him all at once. I want my life free of charge, which is like an open door and crossed the contrasts "(p. 109-110). Beautiful story where love and poetry are no more or less the same thing, and exile friend socio-cultural status of the desert. With
prohibited Mokeddem Malika won the Prix Femina. He has also published and murderers of dreams (1994), a mock autobiography where a young, Kenza, suffer injustice and violence perpetrated by Muslim fundamentalist guerrillas "(...) Pay to pay've been buying my freedom. As a slave. My freedom and solitude. Both go together. For me they have grown together in the great exile is knowing ... "(The sorrow of the rebels, p. 117).
Kenadsa, en pleno desierto oriental de Argelia donde nació en 1949, Malika narra en su autobiografía El desconsuelo de los insumisos (El Cobre Ediciones, 2006, Traducción del francés, Pilar Jimeno Barrera), su transición de niñita escuálida que duerme apelotonada con numerosos hermanos, padres, tíos y abuela paterna, a prestigiada nefróloga y escritora, amenazada de muerte, etapas divididas en un “Aquí” y un “Allá” que marchan paralelamente: “(…) Los integristas amenazan con pasar a cuchillo a los que pecan con la pluma. Formo parte de los que, clavados a una página o a una pantalla, responden con diatribas al deterioro de la vida, a las locuras knives, the eagerness of the Kalashnikov.. " Malika's rebellion is rooted in the stories of his grandmother, who encouraged her desire to attend school in a temporary space where it was not uncommon for a girl to study, and even less with the passion with which hosted Malika books. Since childhood achieved a series of conquests, therefore, that yes, their access to education but also a belligerent temperament, the most unusual of a room of her own: the "guest room", which is Malika empowers the poor, to found in it a kind of personal realm where books and books prevailed, absolute anomaly that neither his father nor his mother dared to censure with sufficient power. In its unalloyed reading habits calls it a form of resistance, at least in its early stages, because later you will find a way of resistance even more obvious: "Entrenched in the guest room, I repeat to myself:" Never servant, no. I'm the guest "(...) In the midst of an oral world, live cornered in my books. Books are my only guests. Even I have installed three shelves in the guest room. It's my little revolution proof that I am becoming a stranger to mine. "(P. 91). In fact, although his mother said he was separated from her daughter by a wall of books, parent, or guardian of a well, not much effort to prevent the child do his will, however unfortunate that with so great intelligence, with such a temper, Malika not man. Later include the father, a good man for sure, that the effort of her daughter is not in vain, that the praises not only her but all women of their race, including the beloved grandmother of Malika.
Educated in a tolerant form of Islam (which does not mean, as discussed below, that atrocities are not committed to preserve the idea of \u200b\u200binferiority in women), Malika, the youngest of ten children, will be despised, and from within family and his own mother as a woman and the color of their skin, which is to his grandmother, "the second sex of the worst race", it is called, not without irony. Being a woman, dark-skinned Muslim and continues to carry problems when you win the right to study medicine at university in Oran, and then to practice their specialty in Montpellier, which is dedicated to those like her, but also lack legal residency in the country. Married to a Frenchman through which it has obtained citizenship, regardless of the great love that binds to it (the writing of his autobiography by relieving their pain after marital separation), Malika get low visibility as a surgeon because of their work almost clandestine and yet excel in the field of French literature, and even received a tribute in his home country after publishing his first book, The Men Who Tread (1990, Chambéry Awards Littré first novel and the Algerian Foundation Nourrendine Alba ), next to the poet Tahar Djaout, it would be one of the first Algerian intellectuals living in France, murdered by Islamists in 1993, at 39 years old: "Neither Djaout nor I translated into Arabic in Algeria. The first translation of The Men Who Tread on the language will come ten years later in a neighboring country, Morocco. Tahar Djaout was killed. The founding members we gave the award also went into exile "(p. 84). Malika survive more than one attack, indeed, refuse to leave their medical practice and, above all, to stop writing exactly what you think about the injustices in his country. Earlier, at fifteen, has challenged an outrageous mob when walking without a veil for a place, virtually inviting the stoning episode precisely rescues men walking, but is narrating in the third person singular, attributing the traumatic experience Leila's character: "(...) I know now that violence has played a vital role in achieving my future freedom. "(p. 109).
One of the more recent novels Malika, the only so far published in Mexico, The Century of Locusts (Era, 2003, Prix Mediterranée Maghreb Afrique Writers Association of French Language), also translated by Pilar Jimenez Barrera that, as revealed in his autobiography, is inspired by the grandmother told her stories, the same small impact by telling how his mother died, the mother of the grandmother, her daughter clinging to the teat. But not one but many are the themes that emerge in The Century of locusts, even though the protagonists are well defined: Mahmud and his daughter Yasmina (inspired the grandmother of Malika). If I am forced to appoint a central theme that would be, precisely, writing as an exercise of full freedom. Mahmud, which bears the name adopted by the adventurer Isabelle Eberhardt writing when it was passing through the desert Bedouin to go (and who Mahmud says he admires above all poets, like Malika itself that repeatedly mentioned in his autobiography) is condemned to wandering after it has been expelled from their land by Rumis (Christians). In the vastness of the desert is multiplied hyperbole of freedom, return treasure, unique heritage to stand by the wandering poet. In this sense, Malika highlights the true essence of Islam, Mahmud characterized a genuine follower of the Koran. Surprisingly, first, his concept of women. Before Yasmina born, dreams of having a daughter through which "avenge" the subject suffered by his mother, "(...) His daughter laugh. His eyes would not know shame, his nights would not suffer nightmares. His daughter would receive an education, would be free and happy. Avenge his mother (...)" (p. 58). Women, he says, they have saved. Malika Mahmoud treats her with tenderness and indulgence with which the great European authors have treated their female protagonists. A man who, like all exceptional man, holds virtues attributed to the feminine nature such as sweetness, sensitivity and devotion. More than Muslim, Mahmud is universal. Unreservedly loves his wife and share the housework with her.
But that same need to be better the rest of men, it happens, it takes to become an outlaw. Will find the remains of his grandmother on the ground that he was taken away, obsessed with giving decent burial, and in the interim a Rumi is dead. Of course blame Mahmud who is forced to flee. Along the way hundreds of adventures await you and dangers, including a dreadful plague of locusts, but in general nature seems to welcome with open arms, and even the most terrible scenes that give rise to Malika describe the desert as no one, becoming to recreate it in his autobiography. The effectiveness of such descriptions is that suddenly the page is transformed into oil and letters, in strokes. Rather than describing the desert, Malika writes the desert. Not only the magnificent display of flora and fauna, the sensations of touch a lobster or to feel the bones of the beloved grandmother. Along the way, Mahmud know love in the arms of a black slave to the naming Nejma ("Star" in Arabic), but that literally is called "daughter-of-the-dog" for having been raised by a dog. Nejma Mahmud flees towards bringing the dream of freedom for your pet, Rabha, also virtual sister milk. Falling in love with a slave Black is another privilege that Mahmud pay dearly to be the victim of a hate crime. Yasmina, the fruit of that love, inherited from the beauty and dark complexion of the mother, will be forced to follow his father in his nomadic life, although the trauma of witnessing the rape and murder of that takes away the words: writing becomes the only link between it and the poet who accompanies his father.
Malika, who as Yasmina is a black Muslim, is also, as Mahmud, triply exiled. "(...) Writing became my territory, my exile, "says Mahmud (p. 126). The writer, still living in his hometown, is an exile by genetics. And Yasmina, raised by a poet in the vastness of the desert, unaware of the absurd bonds in that society contains its women. "Raised by a man, a poet, has escaped from the female mold of tradition and ignores the traditions imposed on women everywhere." (P. 194). Yasmina learned the trade from his father and for the Traveller community in which it operates, literally said, a woman who writes is like a mangy dog, is useless. But the stories his father and she loves writing for four hands who read them, like the snake flute. Malika says through Mahmud: "I want to walk. Walk like writing. Write the steps in the words, words of the steps, in the highlands, skirting the desert. And in the stillness of writing in open places, I will not go into anything but hug him all at once. I want my life free of charge, which is like an open door and crossed the contrasts "(p. 109-110). Beautiful story where love and poetry are no more or less the same thing, and exile friend socio-cultural status of the desert. With
prohibited Mokeddem Malika won the Prix Femina. He has also published and murderers of dreams (1994), a mock autobiography where a young, Kenza, suffer injustice and violence perpetrated by Muslim fundamentalist guerrillas "(...) Pay to pay've been buying my freedom. As a slave. My freedom and solitude. Both go together. For me they have grown together in the great exile is knowing ... "(The sorrow of the rebels, p. 117).
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