French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Baïda, Au Fil des livres. Chroniques de littérature marocaine de langue française
Francophone and Oral Literatures
Abdellah Baïda, Au Fil des livres. Chroniques de littérature marocaine de langue française
Ed. La Croisée des chemins (Casablanca) & Seguier (Paris), "CCME" collection, 2011.
EAN13: 9789954103432.
A panorama of French-language Moroccan literature, followed by close-ups of some thirty works from the beginning of the 21st century.
Table of Contents:
About a Preface
1. A Look at French-Language Moroccan Literature
2. Driss Chraïbi, the Man of the Present
3. A Challenge for Kébir Ammi: How to Write About This Guy Named Apuleius?
4. Rachida Madani, or "the Delinquency of Writing"
5. Bouignane and His Fine Literary Debut with La Porte de la chance
6. Bouissef Rekab: The Ups and Downs of Fils du souk
7. Samira El Ayachi: The Third Homeland of MREs
8. Culture of Origin, Culture of Adoption, and the Bridges of Issa Aït Belize
9. How Fouad Laroui Was Inspired by a Puff of Nicotine
10. The Intellectual Autobiography of Khatibi: Ultimate Book, Intimate Writing
11. Khaïr-Eddine Is Not Dead, as Proven by L'enterrement et autres proses brèves
12. Qana, ce jour-là: The Confrontation Between El Maleh and Bourkia
13. Will Ahmed Hafdi & Co Save Moroccan Theatre? ... and Other Cultural Ills
14. Abdelfattah Kilito: An Uncanny Familiarity
15. Abdelhak Serhane, the Writer Who Never Stops Being Angry
16. Dissidences and the Intense Words of Rachid Khaless
17. Mohamed Loakira and Attempts to Confess the Unconfessable
18. Mdidech & Co: Vers le large, Towards the Open Seas of Prison Writing
19. Omar Mounir, the Moroccan from Prague, Hunts Down Les colonialistes
20. The Four Wives of Mamoun Lahbabi
21. ChrySultana Rivet: Une voix sortie de l'ombre Whispers What Literature Can Do
22. This Is a Novel: Les étoiles de Sidi Moumen by Mahi Binebine
23. Edmond Amran El Maleh, a Reluctant Autobiographer
24. Discovering the OLNI of Abdellatif Laâbi
25. Mohamed Leftah, the Cantor of the Boussbir District
26. Nedali Invites His Readers to La maison de Cicine
27. When Hmoudane Chats About His Trinity: Le Ciel, Hassan II et Maman France
28. Fouad Laroui Infiltrates a Prestigious French Lycée
29. Abdellah Taïa in Search of Freedom in Le jour du Roi
30. Tahar Ben Jelloun Revisits Jean Genet
Epilogue
Index
· (At the end of the book, an index of the authors mentioned includes the following names: Aabboubi Abdellatif; Aït Belize Issa; Ammi Mustapha Kébir; Azami Bouthaïna; Bahéchar Souad; Baudelaire Charles; Bellefqih Anissa; Ben Jelloun Tahar; Benchekroun Siham; Benchemsi Rajae; Bennani Abdelouahid; Binebine Aziz; Binebine Mahi; Blanchot Maurice; Bouhlal Siham; Bouignane El Mostafa; Bouissef Rekab Driss; Bourkia Hassan; Butor Michel; Chaoui Abdelkader; Chatt Abdelkader; Choukri Mohamed; Chraïbi Driss; Déjeux Jean; Duras Marguerite; El Ayachi Samira; El Driss; El Ghormli Mohammed; El Khayat Rita; El Maleh Edmond Amran; Elalamy Youssouf Amine; Errahoui Mohammed; Farès Nabile; Fellous Mohamed; Genet Jean; Gide André; Guessous Maria; Hafdi Ahmed; Hamdane Halima; Hmoudane Mohamed; Ikken Aïssa; Jay Salim; Khaïr-Eddine Mohammed; Khaless Rachid; Khatibi Abdelkébir; Kilito Abdelfattah; Kundera Milan; Laâbi Abdellatif; Lachkar M'hamed; Lahbabi Mamoun; Laroui Fouad; Leftah Mohamed; Loakira Mohamed; Madani Rachida; Marzouki Ahmed; Mdidech Jaouad; Mernissi Fatéma; Mounir Omar; Ndiaye Marie; Nedali Mohamed; Nissaboury Mustapha; O. Rachid; Oulehri Touria; Peyrefitte Roger; Rivet ChrySultana; Sefrioui Ahmed; Serfaty Abraham; Serhane Abdelhak; Steinbeck John; Taïa Abdellah; Trabelsi Bahaa; Valéry Paul)
Moroccan literature written in French occupies a unique space within Francophone postcolonial studies. Originating in the mid-twentieth century with pioneering figures like Driss Chraïbi, this literary tradition has continuously evolved to address complex questions of identity, bilingualism, and cultural hybridity. Abdellah Baïda’s collection of chronicles situates contemporary twenty-first-century writers—ranging from established voices like Abdellatif Laâbi and Tahar Ben Jelloun to newer novelists—within this rich heritage. By examining how these authors navigate the French language to express Moroccan realities, the volume highlights the ongoing vitality and diversity of the nation's literary landscape.
The essays in this volume address critical themes such as autobiography, prison narratives, political dissidence, and the tensions between tradition and modernity. Through close readings of specific novels and plays, Baïda explores how contemporary Moroccan writers use diverse genres to confront social ills, historical memory, and the experience of migration. This book serves as an invaluable resource for students, researchers, and general readers interested in Francophone studies, North African literature, and postcolonial theory, offering a clear entry point into the major debates and aesthetic shifts shaping Moroccan letters today.