Distributed for Seagull Books
Translated by David Alvarez
168 pages | 5 x 8 | © 2018
The Arab List
On the eve of the 2007 general elections in Morocco, writer,
academic, and former cabinet minister Abdallah Saaf embarked on several
road trips across the country to get a feel for how its citizens had
fared since Mohammed VI’s accession to the throne.
A Significant Year is
the result: an analysis of the political and sociological state of the
Moroccan nation on the eve of a crucial moment in the post–Hassan II
period, but also a travelogue that describes what the author saw and
heard on his travels in the summer months leading up to the epochal
vote. Through Saaf’s eyes, we see the country’s varied regions and its
urban and rural landscapes. We meet Moroccans from all walks of life,
such as a waiter at a favorite cafe, a car-park attendant who recognizes
the author from TV, and fellow writer and intellectual Abdelkabir
Khatibi. Behind the deceptive simplicity of the book’s narrative
structure, readers will find in A Significant Year an insightful and nuanced portrayal of modern Morocco’s many complexities.
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