7.6 /10 1 Votes
Language English Originally published 1994 Genre Memoir Country Morocco | 3.8/5 Goodreads Publication date 1994 Publisher Perseus Books Group | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Media type Print (Hardcover and Paperback) Pages 242 (paperback edition) ISBN 0-201-48937-6 (paperback edition) Similar Fatema Mernissi books, Memoirs, Woman books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Download dreams of trespass tales of a harem girlhood by fatima mernissi book
Dreams of Trespass: Tales of a Harem Girlhood is a memoir by Fatima Mernissi (in the US, its original title was The Harem Within: Tales of a Moroccan Girlhood; this is still the UK title). It describes her youth in a Moroccan harem during the 1940s and brings up topics such as Islamic feminism, Arab nationalism, French colonialism and the clash between the traditional and the modern. It is a fictional work, although this fact is only noted in the French version, not the English.
Contents
- Download dreams of trespass tales of a harem girlhood by fatima mernissi book
- Plot summary
- Fez
- The Harem in the Countryside
- References
Plot summary
The memoir details a fictive account of Mernissi's childhood and adolescence in a traditional harem in Fez, Morocco during the 1940s and early 1950s. The protagonist narrates her childhood at both the traditional, walled harem in Fez and the equally traditional but geographically open harem belonging to her grandfather, in the countryside.
Of particular concern for Mernissi and her cousin Samir is the definition of adult concepts—throughout the memoir, they are constantly discussing the nature of the harem, of hudud (sacred frontiers), questions of truth versus convenience, and the growing tension between French colonial forces and Moroccan nationalists.