23/04/2024
Karl Cointreaux is throwing pearls before goats again after carrying Elias Canetti's "The Voices of Marrakesh" to Jemaa El-Fnaa for a silly photo-op:
>> Jewish author and Nobel Prize-winner Elias Canetti was hardly known as a travel writer, but nevertheless crafted one of the most representative works of the genre. His account of a trip to Marrakesh, Morocco paints such a vivid and incisive picture of its people, culture and everyday life that it’s hard to fathom he had no personal background in the Arab world. The fact he was inexperienced in travelogue and only stayed for a few weeks makes it even more of a brilliant feat.
No matter if you’re a regular visitor or former resident, if you’re an avid globetrotter or never set foot on African soil before: this collection of stories, seemingly mundane scenes captured by a keen observer and cunning explorer, really encapsulate what Moroccan city life is like. He manages to go way beyond the exoticizing gaze of a tourist and connects with people from all social stratums, even gaining him peeks of the routines inside the private family sanctuary. He never gets caught up in superficial “1001 Nights” myth, but goes straight for the true “spirit” and atmosphere of the place – which essentially remained intact until today, keeping the book relevant and worthwhile even some 55 years later.
In short, The Voices of Marrakesh is simply the best portray of Morocco by any Western writer since Paul Bowles ... and perhaps in some ways delivers a view even more truthful: through the objective lense of a conscious and humble outsider, sans modern pretense of appropriated authenticity.