Writing Tangier in the Postcolonial Transition

Walonen (Bethune-Cookman U., US) analyzes the dynamics of imagined alterity of socially produced space in the works of the expatriate authors who lived in Tangier and wrote about the Maghreb during 1945-69, a period in which Morocco was transitioning from colonial possession of France and Spain to an independent nation. He focuses on Paul Bowles, Jane Bowles, William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, and Alfred Chester. Among his topics are Jane Bowles' vision of spatial impenetrability, demystifying and remystifying the Maghreb in William Burrough's Tangier writings, and a counter-discourse of Tangierian space in the works of Tahar Ben Jelloun and Anouar Majid. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Michael K. Walonen is an Assistant Professor of English at Bethune-Cookman University. His work, situated at the disciplinary intersection of cultural studies and social geography, focuses on transnational and American regional literature.