Khaïr-Eddine Mohammed

(1941-1995)

   He was born in Tafraout in the Sous region and grew up in Casablanca. Despite his urban upbringing, he remained attached to Sous and its Berber way of life. He is best known for his novel Agadir, in which he uses iconoclastic language and explosive images to describe the effects of the 1960 earthquake on the city. In his novels, he mastered the art and poetry of what he called the guerilla linguistique. Using this approach, he scathingly criticized the ways in which the Moroccan political establishment controlled society. His political positions angered the authorities, and as a result he chose exile in France between 1965 and 1979. In exile, his work appeared in Parisian literary magazines such as Les Lettres Nouvelles, Les Temps modernes, and Présence Africaine.

   His major literary works are Agadir (1967), Corps négatif and Histoire d'un Bon Dieu (1968), Moi, l'aigre (1970), Le déterreur (1973), Une odeur de manthèque (1976), and Une vie, un rêve, un peuple toujours errant (1978). His poetry collection includes Soleil arachide (1968), Ce Maroc! (1975), Résurrection des fleurs sauvages (1981), Légende et vie d'Agoun Chich (1984), and Mémorial (1992). He died in November 1995.