On Mohamed Choukri’s ‘Faces,’ Now Finally in English

Mohamed Choukri’s Faces, the third book in his famous trilogy of fictionalized autobiographical works that began with For Bread Alone, finally came out in Jonas Elbousty’s English translation this month, more than twenty years after the author’s death. Elbousty talks about Faces’ journey into English, its stylistic differences from Choukri’s earlier works, and what he learned from rebuilding the text in English.

Why did it take so long for Faces to reach English, when For Bread Alone reached such wide audiences?

Jonas Elbousty: Most of Mohamed Choukri’s translations were published during his lifetime, including For Bread Alone, Streetwise, Tennessee Williams in Tangier, and Jean Genet in Tangier, and these books reached many languages. However, after his death, the frequency of translations of his work diminished significantly.

For Bread Alone put Choukri in the spotlight, appearing in English nearly a decade before its Arabic publication in 1982, which Choukri financed himself. Upon its publication, the book was banned until 2000. For the sake of both space and time, I won’t delve into the problematics of For Bread Alone, including its translation and appearance in English, royalty dispute, Choukri’s and Bowles’ relationship, etc. That discussion would eclipse our conversation regarding Faces.

Faces, or وجوه, was Choukri’s third autobiographical novel, following For Bread Alone and Streetwise. It was published in Arabic just three years before his passing, representing a later stage in his literary career. In fact, it was the last novel published by Choukri to finish his trilogy. Unfortunately, For Bread Alone has overshadowed much of Choukri’s other work. He once remarked, “الخبز الحافي لعيني” (“For Bread Alone is my curse”), reflecting on how that work often eclipsed his other writings. This is evident because, whenever Choukri’s name gets mentioned, the first thing the majority of people will cite is For Bread Alone.

Released in Arabic in 2000, Faces has garnered far less critical attention compared to For Bread Alone, something that might be one of the primary reasons, among others, for this work having to wait for twenty-four years before its translation in English. However, it was translated into Spanish (Rostros, Amores, Maldiciones, 2014) and German (Gezichten, 2015).

Can you set the scene for us? Where does this novel take us, and whom do we meet? 

JE: Most of the events in this novel occur in the city of Tangier where we meet multiple faces, as the novel’s title indicates. We read about Tangier, which is mentioned over fifty times in the novel. In “Love and Curses,” the narrator describes the city of Tangier, saying:

حتى ليل طنجة الذي كان في الأمس القريب يحتفظ ببعض شبابه وشيء من روح جماله أصبح اليوم هرما، مترهّلا، قبيحا وملطخا بالبراز. صار وحشيا ولم يعد يوحي بأيّ راحة واطمئنان. أنا أعرف أنه يتملص من التهم الموجهة إليه وكل ما هو مشبوه فيه. أعرف أنه أبو الجرائم وحليفها، ومع ذلك فلن أكون ضده مطلقا: لن أتنكر لعشرته القديمة؛ لأنني مدين له بالكثير، في الزمن الذي كان فيه عضدي وحليفي، في زمن العيش القاسي المريب.[1]

Even at night, Tangier- until the very recent past- has preserved some of its youthful and beautiful spirit, has now become old, flabby, ugly, and soaked in shit. It has turned brutal, no longer inspiring comfort or security. I’m aware that it manages to evade the charges leveled against it despite all the suspicious things that take place in it. Even though I know that night has become the godfather and accomplice of crime, I’ll never stand against it, turn away from it, or forget how it is used to keep me company. I’m indebted to it, for it has been my ally through difficult and strange times.”[2]

Choukri’s relationship with the city of Tangier is very complicated; it is a city that created a binary for him, vacillating between love and hatred. Neither of them could exist without the other. He is the storyteller of Tangier, and it is only through his narratives that we discover the hidden secrets of Tangier.

In the foreword to Faces, Roger Allen remarks that, “Tangier remains in many ways what is has always been- an urban space of transit, of intercontinental contacts, of intrigue and sexual exploitation, and of social extremes exploited by some to personal gain and suffered by many others, especially women (“Tangerines”); a site that manages to attract to its streets, cafés, bars, stores, brothels, and dwellings the indigent from other parts of Morocco and beyond.”[3]

From the first pages, the reader is introduced to the city of Tangier and its residents. One of the main characters whom we encounter early in the narrative is Fati, a prostitute, who has moved to Tangier to make ends meet. Fati works as a bartender in Granada Pub, where “escorts, bartenders, and prostitutes told vulgar made-up stories when they spoke about their past , which was always fraught with deprivation and abandonment, and gossiped about the lives of customers.” As we discover, Fati is different from other prostitutes in the city; she loves poetry, and she “could cite both classical and modern verse in a soft, melodious voice.”[4]

We also meet other characters, including Hadi, Ricardo, Baba Daddy, Magda, Hamadi, Farid, Moncef, Veronique. We learn about the struggles of these characters, whose lives have been devastated by destitution, and how they navigate their dire situations in the city of Tangier.

How do you situate Faces in Choukri’s oeuvre? What will people who’ve read his other works be surprised (or not surprised) to find?

JE: In this novel, we see Choukri in his best element, after more than three decades of writing, although there was a period where he stopped writing for a while, something that was very difficult for him. Comparing this with his other work, we see a writer who has honed his writing skills and exemplifies “narrative artistry.”[5] In this work, one can tell how Choukri’s writing has reached a level of sophistication; his characters are well developed, and his narrative techniques have matured. He also cites literary and philosophical aphorisms and often alludes to other literary works in his narratives. One can tell how well read he has become. For example, and I quote at length here:

كنا نمشي قريبا من حافة البحر والأمواج المحطمة تطش ويلحس زبدها أقدامنا وحذاءانا في يدينا. لا أحد يرانا عن قرب. النوارس تزقزق وتقفز أو تطير أو تنزل على الرمل أو تحضن فوق الماء. في يدها الحانة “L’Assommoir” مترجمة إلى العربية وفي يدي قارورة Petaca أشرب منها جرعات من الكونياك الإسباني وهي تدخن لفائفها جالسين قريبا من حافة الماء أو ماشيين. لا يشغلنا شيء من هذا حرام وهذا حلال. غيوم داكنة وبرد خفيف يصفع الوجه. كانت قد انهت قراءة الرواية وحملتها معها لتعيدها لي. إنها تتمنى ألاّ تنتهي حياتها مثل جرفيز Gervaise .   أفهمتها أن علينا ألاّ نتقمص حياة أبطال الأعمال التي نقرؤها كما قال لي جان جنيه الذي حدثته عن تأثري بحياة جوليان سوريل. إن مصير الأبطال ليس حتما هو مصيرنا.

وإذا فحياتهم لا تشبه حياة الناس!

مهما تشابهت حياتهم مع حياة الناس فإنّ من يتشبه بحياتهم قد يسقط في الهاوية الجهنمية التي لا صعود منها. إن دماءهم مسحورة. هناك من انتحر بعدما قرأ فرتر Werther لجوته، وغادة الكاميليا لدوما والغريب لكامو.[6]

We were walking by the edge of the sea with our shoes in our hands. The waves were splashing us, the spume washing our feet. No one was close enough to watch us. Seagulls were chirping, jumping, flying, landing on the sand, and brooding on the water. We alternated between sitting near the water’s edge and walking. She had the Arabic translation of Émile Zola’s L’Assommoir with her, and I had a petaca. I was gulping down Spanish cognac while she was smoking her cigarettes. We didn’t care what was halal and what was haram. Dark clouds and a cold breeze buffeted our faces. She had finished the novel and was returning it to me. She didn’t want her life to end like Gervaise’s. I explained that we should never embody the lives of the protagonists we read about. That’s what Jean Genet taught me when I told him how affected I was by the life of Julien Sorel. The fates of our characters are not necessarily our own.

“And what if their lives resemble the lives of real people?”

“It doesn’t matter. Readers who emulate them, who fall under their spell, might plunge into a hellish abyss from which there’s no return. There are people who have committed suicide after reading The Sorrows of Young Werther by Goethe, Camille by Dumas, or The Stranger by Camus.”

As I previously mentioned, this is the work where the culmination of his career is evident. Choukri’s has been severely judged by critics who haven’t read his total oeuvre; their focus has been narrow, mainly involving For Bread Alone.

What have you learned about Choukri’s writing through the process of translating Tales from Tangier and Faces? What did you discover about Choukri as a stylist as you worked to rebuild him in English?

JE: Through the process of translation, I’ve learned many things about Choukri’s style. His work reveals a unique stylistic approach and the depth of his narrative voice. He uses evocative imagery and describes things as they are, without embellishment; his writing is profoundly connected to his personal life, with its ebb and flow. Choukri aesthetically blends beauty with raw language and imagery, creating a paradox in order to capture the complexity of his characters and their surroundings. His simple yet direct style features short phrases and poignant sentences that capture the intensity of his characters’ dire circumstances and ordeals. With Impressive craftsmanship, he weaves local dialects and multilingual texts, reflecting the linguistic diversity of Morocco, diverse rituals, and rich cultural references into his narratives, creating a text that invites readers to take the plunge.

Through the translation process, I’ve become attuned to the complexity of his narrative voice and ways to render this into English, while at the same time ensuring clarity and narrative flow for readers unfamiliar with the source text context, be it linguistic, political, or cultural. It was a challenging, yet rewarding, exercise which has immensely deepened my appreciation for Choukri’s craft and the nuances of his storytelling.

Beyond an academic audience (who will surely be interested) who would you like to read this book?

JE: I very much hope that this book appeals to anyone who is interested in Arabic literature, in particular Moroccan Literature, in English translation. Also, readers who are interested in discovering more about the city of Tangier, and Morocco, in general. There is no one who knows the city of Tangier better than Choukri. Finally, this novel reflects on human nature, love, kindness, poverty, marginalization, among many more themes, and I believe that the readers will find this novel very rich and rewarding.

Jonas Elbousty holds an MPhil and a PhD from Columbia University. He is an academic, writer, and literary critic and translator. He teaches in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Yale University where he served as the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations for seven years. He is currently the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Council on Middle East Studies and oversees the Yale Summer Study Abroad Program in Rabat, Morocco. He is the author or co-author of eight books, including Faces (Georgetown University Press, 2024), Reading Mohamed Choukri’s Narratives (Routledge, 2024), The Screams of War (Seagull Books, 2024), Tales of Tangier (Yale University Press, 2023), Aswat Mu’asira: Short Stories (Georgetown University Press, 2023), Media Arabic (Routledge, 2021), Arabic Literary Reader (Routledge 2014), Vitality and Dynamism: Interstitial Dialogues of Language, Politics, and Religion in Morocco’s Literary Tradition (Leiden University Press, 2014). His work has appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review, ArabLit, ArabLit Quarterly, Asheville Poetry Review, Banipal, Prospectus, Sekka, Journal of North African Studies, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Comparative Literature, Journal of New Jersey Poets, World Literature Today, among other publications. He is the book series editor of the Cultural Production on the Middle East and North Africa, and editor in chief of the Journal on Maghrebi Studies. Elbousty has received many awards, including the Ordre des Palmes Académiques (Commander of the French National Order of Merit), 2020 Poorvu Family Award for excellence in teaching at Yale University, Special Commendation for contributions to education from the State of Massachusetts Senate, and research fellowships.

X: @JElbousty

[1] 1. Mohamed Choukri, Wujūh (Tangier: Slīkī Ikhwān, 2000) 5-6.

[2] Mohamed Choukri , Faces, trans. Jonas Elbousty (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2024), 1-2.

[3] Foreword, Roger Allen in Mohamed Choukri , Faces, xiii.

[4] Choukri , Faces, 3.

[5] Foreword, Roger Allen in Mohamed Choukri , Faces, xi.

[6] 1. Mohamed Choukri, Wujūh, 16-17