The Clash of Images

Abdelfattah Kilito’s The Clash of Images is a sweet, Borgesian mix of bildungsroman memoir, family history, short-story collection, fable, and literary criticism.Written in a graceful and charming style, Kilito’s story takes place in an unnamed coastal city of memories where a child experiences first-hand the cultural clash of text and image in a changing, modern society. The story unfoldsin the medina, the msid (or Koranic school), the neighborhood hammam (orbathhouse), summer camp, and the local cinema — vanished sites that inspireKilito’s meditation and eulogy. In one chapter the child’s mother forbids herson to read comic books after a bad report card, and the author evokes DonQuixote’s niece, who tries to burn her uncle’s romances and save him from hisinsane quests. In another, he remembers the first time he saw an image of theProphet Mohammed, in a French textbook, and the moment he showed the offending picture to his grandmother.

The Clash of Images is a celebration of the pleasures of storytelling, amagic lantern that delicately reveals how the world of books intimately connectswith the world outside their pages.