Introduction Enunciating the Unsaid and the Historically “Inconceivable” in the Words of Contemporary Francophone Morocco

Abstract

“Is there a future for Morocco?” is a resounding question inherent in the contemporary literature of the post—Lead Years. The future of the country is also bound up in questions of identity, for a country and a people, as it tries to resolve the historic silences of its past. Those who were oppressed or effaced are now weighing in on the reconstruction of a past that has never been told. In his novel Amours sorcières (Enchanted Loves, 2003), renowned Moroccan francophone author Tahar Ben Jelloun asks the question “C’est quoi être marocain? … Nous vivons dans une société semilogique, une société où le rationnel voisine avec les superstitions, la magie, la sorcellerie, les croyances occultes, etc” (What is it to be Moroccan? … We live in a semilogical society, a society where the rational is juxtaposed with superstitions, magic, sorcery, supernatural beliefs, etc.) (48–49). In these brief lines, Ben Jelloun captures the contemporary challenges of Morocco, a country that is today in social, cultural, and political transition.