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Moroccan literature is a Literature written in (Moroccan) Arabic , Berber or French , and of course particularly by people of Morocco , but also of Al-Andalus .


700 - 1500


The icon of Moroccan literature is Ibn Battuta (born 1304). Fez has one of the oldest universities in the world. Its University Of Al Karaouine was first built in 859, and soon became the principal center of higher learning in Morocco. From the beginning of the 12th century it had a great impact on learning both around the Mediterranean and Europa. Among the scholars who studied and taught there were Ibn Khaldoun , Ibn Al-Khatib , Al-Bitruji , Ibn Harazim , Ibn Maymoun ( Maimonides ) and Ibn Wazzan . The writings of Sufi leaders have played an important role in Moroccan literature from this early period (e.g. Abu-l-Hassan Ash-Shadhili and Al-Jazouli ) until now (e.g. Muhammad Ibn Al-Habib ).

Under the Almohad dynasty Morocco experienced a period of prosperity and brilliance of learning. The Almohad built the Marrakech Kutubiya Mosque, which accommodated no fewer than 25,000 people, but was also famed for its books, manuscripts, libraries and book shops, which gave it its name; the first book bazar in history. The Almohad sultan Abu Yaqub Yusuf had a great love for collecting books. He founded a great library, which was eventually carried to the Casbah and turned into a public library. Under the Almohad s, the sovereigns encouraged the construction of schools and libraries and sponsored scholars of every sort. Ibn Rushd ( Averroes ), Ibn Tufail , Ibn Zuhr and many more philosophers, poets and scholars found sanctuary and served the Almohad rulers. The heritage left by the literature of this time that saw the flowering of Al-Andalus and the rise of three Berber dynasties had its impact on Moroccan literature throughout the following centuries.In the 10th century, the city of Cordoba had 700 mosques, 60,000 palaces, and 70 libraries, the largest of which had up to 600,000 books. In comparison, the largest library in Christian Europe at the time had no more than 400 manuscripts, while the University of Paris library still had only 2,000 books later in the 14th century. The libraries, copyists, book­sellers, paper makers and colleges across al-Andalus are said to have published as many as 60,000 treatises, poems, polemics and compilations each year. In comparison, modern Spain publishes 46,330 books per year on average (according to figures from 1996).


1500 - 1900

The possession of manuscripts of famous writers remained the pride of courts and Zawiya s throughout the history of Morocco until the modern times. The great Saadi an ruler Ahmed Al-Mansour (r. 15781603 )]] was a poet king and his dynasty contributed greatly to the library of the Taroudant . Another library established in time that was that of Tamegroute . A large part of it remains today. Dalil Makhtutat Dar al Kutub al Nasiriya, 1985 (Catalog of the Nasiri zawiya in Tamagrut), (ed. Keta books)
By a strange coincidence the complete library of another Saadi an ruler has also been transmitted to us to the present day.
Due to circumstances in a civil war the sultan Zidan (r. 16031627 ) had his complete collection transferred to a ship. The commander of the ship 'stole' the ship and brought it to Spain where the collection was transmitted to El Escorial Catalogue: Dérenbourg, Hartwig, Les manuscrits arabes de l'Escurial / décrits par Hartwig Dérenbourg. - Paris : Leroux {Link without Title} , 1884-1941. - 3 volumes..

Some of the main genres differed from what was prominent in European countries:

Famous Moroccan poets of this period were Abderrahman El Majdoub , Al-Masfiwi , Muhammad Awzal and Hemmou Talb .


MODERN TIMES

Modern Moroccan literature began in the 1930s . Two main factors gave Morocco a pulse toward the development of modern Moroccan literature. Morocco, as a French and Spanish protectorate left Moroccan intellectuals the opportunity to exchange and to produce literary works freely enjoying the contact of other Arabic Literature and Europe.
During the 1950s and 1960s , Morocco was a refuge and artistic centre and attracted writers as Paul Bowles , Tennessee Williams , Brion Gysin , William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac . Moroccan literature flourished with writers such as Mohamed Choukri , Driss Chraïbi , Mohamed Zafzaf and Driss El Khouri . Those Novelist s were just a few of the many novelists, poets and playwrights that were still to come.

In the 1960s , a group of writers founded a group called "Souffles" (Breaths) that initially was Prohibited but later in 1972 gave impetus to the Poetry and modern Romantic works of many Moroccan writers.


LIST OF MOROCCAN WRITERS

See Also: List of Moroccan writers




REFERENCES

  • The work of the main poets of the age of Ahmed Al-Mansour , is analyzed in a book by the Moroccan scholar Najala al-Marini, entitled Al-Sh'ar al-Maghribi fi 'asr al-Mansur al-Sa'di (Rabat: Nashurat Kuliat al-Adab wa al-Alum al-Insania, 1999

  • La vie littéraire au Maroc sous la dynastie alaouite, by Lakhdar, Rabat, 1971



FOOTNOTES



EXTERNAL LINKS

  • Morocco - Poetry International Web http://morocco.poetryinternationalweb.org/piw_cms/cms/cms_module/index.php?obj_name=morocco

  • ''Birth and Development of the Moroccan Short Story'' - by Abdellatif Akbib, Abdelmalek Essaadi University, Morocco http://rmmla.wsu.edu/old/54.1/articles/akbib.html

  • Survey by Suellen Diaconoff, Professor of French, Colby College: Women writers of Morocco writing in French http://www.colby.edu/personal/s/s_diacon/bibliography.html

  • The Literature of Morocco: An Overview http://www.scholars.nus.edu.sg/landow/post/morocco/literature/litov.html

  • French Literature Companion from Oxford University Press (on Francophone Literature from Morocco) {Link without Title}

  • About the great libraries of Morocco: The Khizanas Habsia (Royaume du Maroc, Ministère des Habous et des Affaires Islamiques) http://www.islam-maroc.ma/Fr/detail.aspx?id=775&z=101&s=3

  • The Literature of Al-Andalus, ed. by M.R. Menocal, R.P. Scheindlin and M. Sells - 2000 - Cambridge University Press (chapter 1) http://www.humanities.wisc.edu/programs/downloads/Intro%20CHAL-Andalus%20.pdf

  • Troubadour Poetry: An Intercultural Experience, by Said I. Abdelwahed, Professor of English Literature English Department, Faculty of Arts, Al-Azhar University Gaza, Palestine http://www.arabworldbooks.com/Literature/troubadour_poetry.htm



SEE ALSO