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Tangier

A Literary Guide For Travellers

Josh Shoemake

$19.99

Paperback

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English
I B TAURIS
30 May 2018
An edge city, poised at the northernmost tip of Africa, just nine miles across the Strait of Gibraltar from Europe and overlooking both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, Tangier is more than a destination, it is an escape. The Interzone, as William Burroughs called it, has attracted spies, outlaws, outcasts, and writers for centuries-men and women working out at the edge of literary forms, breaking through artistic borders.

This outlaw originality is what most astonishes when encountering the literary history of Tangier for the first time. Particularly in the past century, the results were some of the most incendiary and influential books of our time, the most prominent being Burroughs' Naked Lunch and Paul Bowles' The Sheltering Sky. The list of "edge" writers who were drawn to Tangier is long, among them Ibn Battuta, Samuel Pepys, Alexandre Dumas, Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, Walter Harris, Jean Genet, Paul and Jane Bowles, Tennessee Williams, William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Patricia Highsmith, Jack Kerouac, Truman Capote, Gore Vidal, Allen Ginsberg, Alfred Chester, Joe Orton, and Mohamed Choukri.

This is a book that captures the unconventional, multilayered story of literary Tangier and is a must-have for travelers, armchair adventurers, and literature buffs, particularly aficionados of the Beat generation writers and the poets who made the city their home.

By:  
Imprint:   I B TAURIS
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 198mm,  Width: 129mm, 
Weight:   254g
ISBN:   9781788312837
ISBN 10:   178831283X
Series:   Literary Guides for Travellers
Pages:   296
Publication Date:  
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
List of Illustrations Map 1.Introduction: The Edge of the Known World 2.The Port 3.Tanger Plage- Malabata 4.The Kasbah 5.The Medina 6.The Petit Socco 7.The Grand Socco 8.Dean's Bar-Hotel Minzah 9.Gran Cafe de Paris-New Town 10.Boulevard Pasteur 11.Hotel Rembrandt-Villa Muniria 12.The Marshan 13.To Merkala Beach 14. The Old Mountain 15.San Francisco- Immeuble Itesa 16.Iberia 17.The New Mountain 18.Cap Spartel-Caves of Hercules-Sidi Kacem 19.Asilah and Larache Author Profiles Chronology Select Bibliography Index

Josh Shoemake moved to Morocco in 1996, after graduating from Columbia. He spent three years in Tangier, where he taught literature at the American School of Tangier and formed close friendships with Paul Bowles, Mohamed Choukri and other local artists and writers. He then served for five years as headmaster of The American School of Marrakesh. Currently he lives in Paris.

Reviews for Tangier: A Literary Guide For Travellers

Indispensable * New York Times * Tangier: A Literary Guide for Travellers is a truly dazzling and extraordinary book. A work of literature in its own right, it’s the perfect companion for an exotic journey or an armchair afternoon. The kind of book that educates, amuses, and charms with every page, it’s one that reveals the magical underbelly of Tangier like nothing else. -- Tahir Shah, author of The Caliph’s House Josh Shoemake spent three years in Tangier, hanging out with some of the finest writers resident there, including Paul Bowles. His literary companion is a work of passion and of experience... a fascinating guide. -- Anthony Sattin * Sunday Times * I’ve rarely read a guidebook that had a more powerful effect on me. * Good Book Guide * Brilliant * Guardian * A wonderfully elegant account of the people and places that have contributed to the exotic allure of Morocco’s most exciting city. -- Giles Foden * Condé Nast Traveller * A sure-footed guide to the lore and literature of an enigmatic city. -- Iain Finlayson * The Times * An excellent book. -- Robert Irwin * The Times Literary Supplement * Engaging... takes the form of a diverting stroll through the city’s labyrinthine streets... it is as much about the writers who lived, wrote and looked for love as it is about the streets themselves. -- Thomas Hodgkinson * Spectator * This book is a fantasia of stories and quotes by and about the astonishing number of writers who made their homes there... It’s a heady mix of tolerance and vice and is often very funny too... this multi-layered city is brought alive in a marvellously odd, gossipy romp of a book. -- Robin Hanbury Tenison * Country Life *


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