{"id":11943,"date":"2014-04-24T08:52:22","date_gmt":"2014-04-24T12:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/?p=11943"},"modified":"2014-04-24T08:52:22","modified_gmt":"2014-04-24T12:52:22","slug":"rachida-madanis-new-york-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/rachida-madanis-new-york-reading\/","title":{"rendered":"Rachida Madani&#8217;s New York Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Here&#8217;s a short video by Antonia Massa of Rachida Madani&#8217;s 16 April reading at Silvana in Harlem. (I hope to have a longer version of the reading up next week). Below the <em>compte-rendu<\/em> of the reading by Anonia Massa that just appeared in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.voicesofny.org\/2014\/04\/moroccan-poet-gives-reading-in-new-york\/\"><em>Voices of New York<\/em><\/a>.<br \/>\n<iframe data-src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3kBtG5NZWGw\" width=\"480\" height=\"270\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"color: #3c3c3c; text-align: justify;\">The legend of One Thousand and One Nights has captured the imaginations of poets and authors for centuries, inspiring countless revisions, retellings and additions to the original story.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3c3c3c; text-align: justify;\">Rachida Madani, a Moroccan poet, is one of the most recent writers to use the legend as a jumping off point. Her poetry collection \u201cTales of a Severed Head\u201d (Yale University Press, 2012), translated from French by Marilyn Hacker, brims with raw, sometimes wrenching words and imagery that offer both feminist and political critiques of modern Morocco.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3c3c3c; text-align: justify;\">On April 16\u00a0, Madani kicked off her \u201cTales of a Severed Head\u201d book tour in New York with a reading at Silvana, a Middle Eastern restaurant and bar in Harlem. Madani\u2019s reading included an English translation from Pierre Joris and music from traditional Moroccan band Gnawa Boussou. Her\u00a0audience included both French and English speakers, who drank tea and beer and tucked in to plates of falafel while they listened.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3c3c3c; text-align: justify;\">In \u201cTales of a Severed Head,\u201d Madani breaks apart the single voice of Scheherazade, the heroine in One Thousand and One Nights who saves herself by telling a never-ending story. Madani\u2019s Scheherazade speaks with many different voices and stories to tell.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3c3c3c; text-align: justify;\">\u201cMy poetry revolts against the female condition,\u201d said Madani. \u201cWomen are often forced into the role of second-class citizens. When we use words, we take charge of our own destiny.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3c3c3c; text-align: justify;\">Likewise, in\u00a0Madani\u2019s collection<em>\u00a0<\/em>women speak to change their destiny. Words uplift and empower them, as they do in this verse, translated by Marilyn Hacker:<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #555555; text-align: justify;\"><em><span dir=\"ltr\">What a woman, what a departure!<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #555555; text-align: justify;\"><em><span dir=\"ltr\">She has named her fear<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #555555; text-align: justify;\"><em><span dir=\"ltr\">she has measured its feet<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #555555; text-align: justify;\"><em><span dir=\"ltr\">then she measured her own mouth<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #555555; text-align: justify;\"><em><span dir=\"ltr\">then rose up in one movement.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #555555; text-align: justify;\"><em><span dir=\"ltr\">She goes through the glass city<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #555555; text-align: justify;\"><em><span dir=\"ltr\">goes from door to door<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #555555; text-align: justify;\"><em><span dir=\"ltr\">she speaks<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #555555; text-align: justify;\"><em><span dir=\"ltr\">and now nothing can stop her.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3c3c3c; text-align: justify;\">Madani was born in Tangiers, Morocco, where she lives now. She was educated in French and Arabic, and taught French for 30 years. She has written several volumes of poetry, and frequently denounces gender relationships in modern Morocco in her work. Poetry, Madani said, is\u00a0a powerful tool for political protest.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3c3c3c; text-align: justify;\">\u201cMoroccan women struggle for equality. They struggle for their voices to be heard, and to affirm and reclaim their rights,\u201d said Madani. \u201cI use poetry to demand justice, advocate for women and take a political position.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a style=\"color: #484848;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.voicesofny.org\/media\/389\/files\/2014\/04\/2014-04-16-19.29.58.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[49388]\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-49493 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.voicesofny.org\/media\/389\/files\/2014\/04\/2014-04-16-19.29.58-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"Moroccan band Gnawa Boussou accompanied Madani's reading. (Photo by Antonia Massa)\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/168;\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3c3c3c; text-align: justify;\">\u201cTales of a Severed Head\u201d\u00a0has resonated with men and women far beyond the borders of Morocco. The collection\u00a0has received critical acclaim both in Europe and the\u00a0U.S., and was nominated for a 2013 Poetry in Translation Award by the PEN American Center.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3c3c3c; text-align: justify;\">Madani said that she feels grateful to Hacker, her translator, and the press she has received for her warm reception abroad. She said she also sees how her poetry highlights\u00a0the\u00a0struggles for equality that women face all over the world.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3c3c3c; text-align: justify;\">\u201cThe problems I raise aren\u2019t exclusively for Moroccan women. They aren\u2019t unique,\u201d said Madani. \u201cRape and violence against women happen in Brazil, in Spain \u2013 everywhere, really. And in order to change that, there\u2019s a mentality that needs to change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3c3c3c; text-align: justify;\">Madani\u2019s book tour, her first in the U.S., will next take her to Boston, Cambridge, Pittsburgh and Washington.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3c3c3c; text-align: justify;\"><em>To read additional excerpts from \u201c<\/em>Tales of a Severed Head,\u201d\u00a0<em>visit\u00a0<a style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #222222;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.asymptotejournal.com\/article.php?cat=Poetry&amp;id=92&amp;curr_index=1\">Asymptote<\/a>\u00a0and<a style=\"font-weight: bold; color: #222222;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.jadaliyya.com\/pages\/index\/7920\/five-poems-by-rachida-madani\">Jadaliyya<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #3c3c3c; text-align: justify;\">\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s a short video by Antonia Massa of Rachida Madani&#8217;s 16 April reading at Silvana in Harlem. (I hope to have a longer version of the reading up next week). Below the compte-rendu of&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,91,93,1],"tags":[1310],"class_list":["post-11943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-maghrebi-literature","category-poetry","category-poetry-readings","category-uncategorized","tag-rachida-madani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11943"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11947,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11943\/revisions\/11947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}