Alexander Elinson | Hunter College (original) (raw)
Books by Alexander Elinson
Translations by Alexander Elinson
Hassan makes a living in his native Marrakesh as a comic writer and performer, through satirical ... more Hassan makes a living in his native Marrakesh as a comic writer and performer, through satirical sketches critical of Morocco’s rulers. Yet, when he is suddenly conscripted into a losing war in the Sahara, and drafted to a far-flung desert outpost, it seems that all is lost.
Could his estranged father, close to power as the king’s private jester, have something to do with his sudden removal? And will he ever see his beloved wife Zinab again?
With flowing prose and black humor, Youssef Fadel subtly tells the story of 1980s Morocco. He evokes a system whose brutality emanates from the top, and is felt and reproduced in the countless uneven power relations of the people living underneath.
Articles and Book Chapters by Alexander Elinson
Europe A Literary History, 1348-1418, edited by David Wallace, 2015
International Journal of Middle East Studies, 2013
Social, political, and technological changes have forced changes in the contemporary Moroccan lin... more Social, political, and technological changes have forced changes in the contemporary Moroccan linguistic landscape. In print media, advertising, music, fictional writing, and translation, Moroccan Arabic (dārija) is being written in a variety of ways that point to a shift in perceptions and usage of dārija in daily Moroccan life. In this article, I provide a discussion of recent developments in the use of dārija in writing, and discuss how this evolving situation is articulated by intellectuals, journalists, publishers, fiction writers, and translators.
Middle Eastern Literatures, 2009
This article examines two literary responses to the prison experience in Morocco. These responses... more This article examines two literary responses to the prison experience in Morocco. These responses-Abdellatif Laâbi's Le chemin des ordalies (Path of Ordeals) and Khadija Marouazi's S ırat al-ram ad (Biography of Ashes)-seek to subvert the dominant discourse of the state through various narrative strategies including the use of storytelling techniques, shifting point of view, multiple narrators, and the inclusion of multiple languages and linguistic registers in the text. By way of literature, Laâbi and Marouazi expand the range of voices that are narrating the story of Morocco's 'Lead Years', and thus are contributing to a multi-voiced narrative of reconciliation with the past, and suggesting ways of moving forward.
in Transforming Loss into Beauty: Essays on Arabic Literature and Culture in Honor of Magda Al-Nowaihi, edited by Marlé Hammond and Dana Sajdi, 2008
Journal of Arabic Literature, 2005
This article will provide a close reading of Ab‚ al-fi®hir MuΩammad b. Y‚suf al-Saraqusfl¬'s (d. ... more This article will provide a close reading of Ab‚ al-fi®hir MuΩammad b. Y‚suf al-Saraqusfl¬'s (d. 1143) Maq®ma Qayraw®niyya. Taking into account social, political, and literary-historical factors, I will examine how and why the author effectively translates the poetic genre of rith®ae al-mudun (city elegy) into rhymed prose. Writing during the Almoravid period when the prestige of poetry and literary prose was significantly less than it had been in earlier periods due to a decline in courtly patronage, al-Saraqusfl¬ successfully expresses his own displacement as a writer and ambivalent relationship to the Arabic literary past and present by subverting the traditional metaphoric obscurity of poetry, and the clarity of prose. In utilizing the "hybrid form" of the maq®ma, al-Saraqusfl¬ demonstrates the difficulties of remaining within narrowly defined genres that do not necessarily reflect the complex twelfth century present in which the author lived.
Medieval Encounters, 2001
Book Reviews by Alexander Elinson
Journal of Arabic Literature, 2011
Talks by Alexander Elinson
تغطية صدرت بجريدة المساء الثقافي العدد 2527 الخميس 13 نونبر 2014 كتبها صحافي الجريدة السيد شفيق... more تغطية صدرت بجريدة المساء الثقافي العدد 2527 الخميس 13 نونبر 2014 كتبها صحافي الجريدة السيد شفيق الزكاري من خلال حضوره في اللقاء الذي نظمناه بالمحمدية يوم 8نونبر 2014
Papers by Alexander Elinson
Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, 2001
La Coronica a Journal of Medieval Hispanic Languages Literatures Cultures, 2009
Hassan makes a living in his native Marrakesh as a comic writer and performer, through satirical ... more Hassan makes a living in his native Marrakesh as a comic writer and performer, through satirical sketches critical of Morocco’s rulers. Yet, when he is suddenly conscripted into a losing war in the Sahara, and drafted to a far-flung desert outpost, it seems that all is lost.
Could his estranged father, close to power as the king’s private jester, have something to do with his sudden removal? And will he ever see his beloved wife Zinab again?
With flowing prose and black humor, Youssef Fadel subtly tells the story of 1980s Morocco. He evokes a system whose brutality emanates from the top, and is felt and reproduced in the countless uneven power relations of the people living underneath.
Europe A Literary History, 1348-1418, edited by David Wallace, 2015
International Journal of Middle East Studies, 2013
Social, political, and technological changes have forced changes in the contemporary Moroccan lin... more Social, political, and technological changes have forced changes in the contemporary Moroccan linguistic landscape. In print media, advertising, music, fictional writing, and translation, Moroccan Arabic (dārija) is being written in a variety of ways that point to a shift in perceptions and usage of dārija in daily Moroccan life. In this article, I provide a discussion of recent developments in the use of dārija in writing, and discuss how this evolving situation is articulated by intellectuals, journalists, publishers, fiction writers, and translators.
Middle Eastern Literatures, 2009
This article examines two literary responses to the prison experience in Morocco. These responses... more This article examines two literary responses to the prison experience in Morocco. These responses-Abdellatif Laâbi's Le chemin des ordalies (Path of Ordeals) and Khadija Marouazi's S ırat al-ram ad (Biography of Ashes)-seek to subvert the dominant discourse of the state through various narrative strategies including the use of storytelling techniques, shifting point of view, multiple narrators, and the inclusion of multiple languages and linguistic registers in the text. By way of literature, Laâbi and Marouazi expand the range of voices that are narrating the story of Morocco's 'Lead Years', and thus are contributing to a multi-voiced narrative of reconciliation with the past, and suggesting ways of moving forward.
in Transforming Loss into Beauty: Essays on Arabic Literature and Culture in Honor of Magda Al-Nowaihi, edited by Marlé Hammond and Dana Sajdi, 2008
Journal of Arabic Literature, 2005
This article will provide a close reading of Ab‚ al-fi®hir MuΩammad b. Y‚suf al-Saraqusfl¬'s (d. ... more This article will provide a close reading of Ab‚ al-fi®hir MuΩammad b. Y‚suf al-Saraqusfl¬'s (d. 1143) Maq®ma Qayraw®niyya. Taking into account social, political, and literary-historical factors, I will examine how and why the author effectively translates the poetic genre of rith®ae al-mudun (city elegy) into rhymed prose. Writing during the Almoravid period when the prestige of poetry and literary prose was significantly less than it had been in earlier periods due to a decline in courtly patronage, al-Saraqusfl¬ successfully expresses his own displacement as a writer and ambivalent relationship to the Arabic literary past and present by subverting the traditional metaphoric obscurity of poetry, and the clarity of prose. In utilizing the "hybrid form" of the maq®ma, al-Saraqusfl¬ demonstrates the difficulties of remaining within narrowly defined genres that do not necessarily reflect the complex twelfth century present in which the author lived.
Medieval Encounters, 2001
Journal of Arabic Literature, 2011
تغطية صدرت بجريدة المساء الثقافي العدد 2527 الخميس 13 نونبر 2014 كتبها صحافي الجريدة السيد شفيق... more تغطية صدرت بجريدة المساء الثقافي العدد 2527 الخميس 13 نونبر 2014 كتبها صحافي الجريدة السيد شفيق الزكاري من خلال حضوره في اللقاء الذي نظمناه بالمحمدية يوم 8نونبر 2014
Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, 2001
La Coronica a Journal of Medieval Hispanic Languages Literatures Cultures, 2009
Journal of Arabic Literature, 2011
International Journal of Middle East Studies, 2015