tangier
As some of you know, this summer's trip is actually a return to Morocco. My first arabic class was at the American Language Institute in Fes (ALIF) in Spring of 2002. I spent 6 weeks living in a the Institute's ville nouvelle residence with a motly crew of foreigners: you know, the types who wanted to travel to the Arab world six months after 9/11. We BBQed a lot (stingray, anyone? freshly killed chicken?), smoked sheesha, tooled around the old medina, and learned some arabic. Which I forgot entirely during my first 2 years of grad school.
After the ALIF language course, I spent 3 weeks traveling around the country with Owen. So, I actually have a pretty good sense of Morocco, which means that this trip will be focused on the studying, rather than the travel. With the exception of a few weekend trips, I anticipate spending most of my time in Tangier.
Owen and I didn't visit Tangier. My one prior encounter with the city was an 18 hour day trip from southern Spain during a European backpacking trip in summer 1998. My memories are hazy: skinny streets, a windswept kasbah wall overlooking the straight of Gibralter, a camel, lots of bouganvilla, and a bunch of tourist touts. Not exactly useful for envisioning the place I'll be living for 6 weeks.
So, I turned to the interweb. Tangier doesn't have the most savory reputation. William S. Burroughs, who based the "Interzone" in Naked Lunch (1959) on Tangier, said that the city was mostly "smugglers, money launderers, currency speculators, gunrunners, prostitutes, and pimps." Needless to say, this made it a very appealing locale for Westerners looking for an "oriental" escape! The beat poets spent a lot of time in Tangier, as did novelist Paul Bowles. The film Casablanca actually drew on Tangier's reputation, rather than that of the bigger city to the south (and, no, I don't know why they didn't call it "Tangier").
Earlier, the city was a haven for European artists. Delacroix spent time in Tangier, as did Matisse. Here is the latter's 1912 "View of the Bay":
Picturesque, no? I think I'll just have to wait until arrival to get a real sense of the city.
After the ALIF language course, I spent 3 weeks traveling around the country with Owen. So, I actually have a pretty good sense of Morocco, which means that this trip will be focused on the studying, rather than the travel. With the exception of a few weekend trips, I anticipate spending most of my time in Tangier.
Owen and I didn't visit Tangier. My one prior encounter with the city was an 18 hour day trip from southern Spain during a European backpacking trip in summer 1998. My memories are hazy: skinny streets, a windswept kasbah wall overlooking the straight of Gibralter, a camel, lots of bouganvilla, and a bunch of tourist touts. Not exactly useful for envisioning the place I'll be living for 6 weeks.
So, I turned to the interweb. Tangier doesn't have the most savory reputation. William S. Burroughs, who based the "Interzone" in Naked Lunch (1959) on Tangier, said that the city was mostly "smugglers, money launderers, currency speculators, gunrunners, prostitutes, and pimps." Needless to say, this made it a very appealing locale for Westerners looking for an "oriental" escape! The beat poets spent a lot of time in Tangier, as did novelist Paul Bowles. The film Casablanca actually drew on Tangier's reputation, rather than that of the bigger city to the south (and, no, I don't know why they didn't call it "Tangier").
Earlier, the city was a haven for European artists. Delacroix spent time in Tangier, as did Matisse. Here is the latter's 1912 "View of the Bay":
Picturesque, no? I think I'll just have to wait until arrival to get a real sense of the city.
posted by Emily at 1:13 AM
1 Comments:
It was four weeks.
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