The sacred night / Tahar Ben Jelloun ; translated by Alan Sheridan
Author
Original Work
Translator
Language
Year
2000
Publisher
Country
United States
Pages
178
ISBN
9780801864414
The haunting continuation of The Sand Child, Ben Jelloun concludes Ahmed's, now Zahra's, journey. Winner of the 1987 Prix Goncourt The Sacred Night continues the remarkable story Tahar Ben Jelloun began in The Sand Child. Mohammed Ahmed, a Moroccan girl raised as a boy in order to circumvent Islamic inheritance laws regarding female children, remains deeply conflicted about her identity. In a narrative that shifts in and out of reality moving between a mysterious present and a painful past, Ben Jelloun relates the events of Ahmed's adult life. Now calling herself Zahra, she renounces her role as only son and heir after her father's death and journeys through a dreamlike Moroccan landscape. A searing allegorical portrait of North African society, The Sacred Night uses Arabic fairy tales and surrealist elements to craft a stunning and disturbing vision of protest and rebellion against the strictures of hidebound traditions governing gender roles and sexuality.— Google Books
User Reviews
Sign in to leave a review.
No reviews yet. Be the first!