To Leave

Description

My Cameroonian friend, Flaubert, says, “I am coming,” when he means, “I am leaving.” And, “We remain together,” when he is saying goodbye before departing. That was his way of defying fate. In this narrative, those who leave do not think of returning, and if they abandon someone in their departure, they abandon them forever.

He couldn’t close his eyes. What was the reason for this obsession with leaving Morocco? What was the reason for this idea’s insistence and its violent repetition in his mind? His thoughts frightened him, and his insomnia amplified his bewilderment to terrifying proportions.

He rose from his bed and went out onto the balcony overlooking the Marshan cemetery. A bright, silvery light illuminated the sea. He began counting the graves so that he might, from there, find Noureddine’s. He couldn’t imagine what had become of that magnificent body, disfigured by the sea.

He was determined to find the body of his cousin and friend. Among the dismembered bodies, perhaps devoured by sharks, Noureddine’s was still intact, though bloated.

From Tangier, the open city nestled between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. A city of magic and wondrous tales, the Moroccan city about which much has been said and written, about a life on the surface and another beneath.

Starting from Tangier, Tahar Ben Jelloun writes in this novel about the Moroccans torn between their love for Morocco and their desire to leave it. Young Moroccans, like the Africans who come to Tangier, fall prey to smugglers and drown at sea, or are forced to do what Azel did, who became Khalil Mikal reluctantly, and what Kenza did, who married Mikal, all for the dream of obtaining a passport or even a visa.

Between Tangier and Spain, Tahar Ben Jelloun portrays how desperate the dream of “leaving” by any means is.