Moroccan poets rise to the Shakespearean challenge

For quite sometime, the Moroccan culture and people were portrayed as "the exotic" in literary works produced by Westerners before and even after the era of colonization. Today, things have changed. The Moroccan intellectual elite who immersed itself in English for the sake of academic achievement is now taking up the challenge of writing poetry in the first worldwide-spoken language.

For quite sometime, the Moroccan culture and people were portrayed as "the exotic" in literary works produced by Westerners before and even after the era of colonization. Today, things have changed. The Moroccan intellectual elite who immersed itself in English for the sake of academic achievement is now taking up the challenge of writing poetry in the first worldwide-spoken language.

It began with one man

The trend of transcending Molière's language and delving into the English language began with late professor Mohammed Abu-Talib. He is considered to be the founding father of English departments in Moroccan universities and the first poet to publish a collection of poems in English in the early seventies. Abu-Talib did his studies in the U.S. at Jacksonville State University. He returned to Morocco to work as a lecturer in English literature and culture at the Fez School of Letters. A few years later, he was appointed Chairman of the English-language Department at the Rabat School of Letters and humanities.

Mohammed Abu-Talib was a pioneer in using the most intricate form of creative writing “poetry” to ward off the cultural invasion triggered by colonialism. In his collection “Whispers of Anger”, Abu-Talib blasts over the impact of the Western-backed Marxism on the Moroccan traditions and lifestyle:

Cocktail parties shook our festive customs;
Alien habits invaded thoughts and homes;

The one to take over the challenge

On the Moroccan scene, Professor Hassan Mekouar is deemed to be the most prolific poet writing in English. He did his studies at Ohio and Brown Universities while taking poetry courses with notorious poets which helped the poet inside him to emerge. Back in Morocco, he was appointed Dean of the Rabat School of Letters, President of the Mohammed I University in Oujda, east.

Unlike Abu-Talib, Mekouar’s poetry is not very critical of the West. The poet explains that he does not confine himself in one area but he is rather interested “in a poetry that is universal and beyond time and place.” When leafing through one volume of Mekouar’s triology “The Future Remains”, the reader notices that the poet had it all. From the theme of nature to existential issues, the poet seems to encompass all aspects of life and tackle a myriad of subjects.

Faithful to his Moroccan identity, Mekouar reserves in each book a section for Moroccan topics namely: Moroccan Gothic, Agadir, the Erfoud Marbles and others….

“We used to look up to Americans, but Mohammed Abu-Talib taught us to cherish our own culture. I now understand what he meant by this,” he says. “I am trying to pursue it by getting my students interested in the treasures of their own country.” 

Women, a force to be reckoned with

Touria Nakkouch, a professor at the Ibn-Zohr School of Letters, has won her spurs among the Moroccan women writing poems in English. This graduate of the University of Canterbury, U.K. defines herself as a “liberal-marxist, intellectually progressivist, and culturally pluralist woman.”

With a refined set of poems, notably “haikus” and “ Bruehgel’s Women”, Nakkouch is undeniably the representative of the third generation of Moroccan English-speaking poets. A specialist in feminine studies, Nakkouch forges her poetry to speak of liberal and feminist profile. “Encounter”, for example, is a very expressive poem that reveals the poet’s sense of self-awareness:

Of her I wanted to know all
And yet remember nothing;
So I buried her alive,
Still quivering under the touch
Of my loud masculinity;

Accounting for the choice of the language, the poet explains that: “I like to believe that if I am to be ‘appropriated’ by a language, at least I can do it ‘en connaissance de cause.’”

Nakkouch is a member of the Moroccan Writer’s Community, which is run by the University of Aberystwyth, England. She also belongs to the Trans-Maghreb Creative Writing Forum "Medi-Café” where she is published online.

A limited readership

For Touria Nakkouch, the lack of readership poses a problem for Moroccan poets writing in English. “Understanding a poetry which is intellectually ambitious, culturally revisionary, and formally diverse is not accessible to all,” she says. 

For Mekouar, the readership remains very limited even for poets writing in French or Arabic. “People don’t read poetry in their own language, let alone in English. Poetry inspired by American contemporary poets can be very difficult and dense.”

After publishing his fourth series of poems, “The Wings of the Walrus”, Mekouar admitted that he resolved in his fifth collection of poems “Stories in (very) Free Verse” to simplifying his style “on the surface, this latest series looks simple and easy. The complication is left to another stage so that people understand and remember,” he said.

The publication and distribution is also impeding the poets’ career. “Because Moroccan English-speaking poetry has not yet found a place in the reading market, editing and publishing houses are not likely to take risks,” Nakkouch regrets. “English-speaking poets have up to now funded their publications themselves in Morocco,” she says.

…and the next generation?

On the ability and tendency of the upcoming generation to venture into writing poetry in English, Mekouar says that, though he encourages his students to write in the Language they master the most, “English is for a minority that can understand the subtleties of the language. One word can destroy the poem because it is used out of its context. You have to understand the cultural implication of words.”

Nakkouch is more upbeat about the upcoming generations. She says potential poets are likely to appear in the years to come. “English is becoming present, even prominent in the performing arts, especially music. Fusion bands are now writing their lyrics and songs in a fusion of Arabic and English, Amazigh and English.”

Though scattered across the country, the Moroccan poets community is growing and gaining in strength. Ahmed Radi, Ahmed Saber, Laila Bouinidane, hafsa Bekri lamrani, Anissa Taouil….are all prominent figures striving to give a voice to the Moroccan culture and even shaping the north African country’s canon of English poetry.   

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