A01=Mohamed Choukri
A01=Paul Bowles
alcohol
anger
Arab
author
Author_Mohamed Choukri
Author_Paul Bowles
awakenin
better life
Category=DNBL1
Category=DSBH
Category=DSK
charm
classic
conflict
courage
culture
death
defiance
drugs
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
family
famine
freedom
hardship
human
identity
independence
influence
inmate
insolent
jail
life-altering
literature
love
malnutrition
memory
neglect
portrait
poverty
power
proud
rage
rebellion
resilience
revolution
Rif
riots
self-discovery
sex
siblings
steal
struggle
suffering
survival
Tangiers
transformation
trauma
violence
youth
Product details
- ISBN 9781846590108
- Weight: 223g
- Dimensions: 135 x 210mm
- Publication Date: 22 Jun 2006
- Publisher: Saqi Books
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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Driven by famine from their home in the Rif, Mohamed's family walks to Tangiers in search of a better life. But things are no better there. Eight of Mohamed's siblings die of malnutrition and neglect, and one is killed by Mohamed's father in a fit of rage. On moving to another province Mohamed learns how to charm and steal, and discovers the joys of drugs, sex and alcohol. Proud, insolent and afraid of no-one, Mohamed returns to Tangiers, where he is caught up in the violence of the 1952 independence riots. During a short spell in a filthy Moroccan jail, a fellow inmate kindles Mohamed's life-altering love of literature. A cult classic, For Bread Alone is an astonishing tale of human resilience and an unflinching and searing portrait of the early life of one of the Arab world's most important and widely read authors.
Mohamed Choukri is one of North Africa's most controversial and widely read authors. At the age of twenty he decided to learn to read and write classical Arabic. He went on to become a teacher and writer, finally being awarded the chair of Arabic Literature at Ibn Batuta College in Tangier. Paul Bowles, perhaps best known for his novel The Sheltering Sky, collaborated closely with Choukri on the translation of For Bread Alone. The story of Choukri's life is continued in Streetwise.
