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The Expelled
An unexpected encounter at the central bus station with a woman identical to the Expelled’s wife but thirty years younger, who happens to be the same person. An adulterous relationship that is not quite what it seems. A bus hijacked by terrorists, where two castes are formed, one superior, the front people, and another inferior and oppressed, the back people that support and justify the oppressor. Books within books and an ending that connects the past with the future to turn the expelled into an improved person. A novel that affects us deeply, by a writer who refuses to write like everyone else.
When the Sephardim were chased from Spain in the fifteenth century and they arrived in Morocco, they were called "Megorashim" (expelled), which had an opposite meaning to the term "Toshabim" (settled). However, for centuries, it didn’t have a negative connotation, on the contrary, being an expelled person was like belonging to nobility. Five hundred years later, the narrator feels expelled from everywhere, his town, his family, his lovers, his countries, to gradually start understanding that “I had become, just like my ancestors, an expelled.”
When the Sephardim were chased from Spain in the fifteenth century and they arrived in Morocco, they were called "Megorashim" (expelled), which had an opposite meaning to the term "Toshabim" (settled). However, for centuries, it didn’t have a negative connotation, on the contrary, being an expelled person was like belonging to nobility. Five hundred years later, the narrator feels expelled from everywhere, his town, his family, his lovers, his countries, to gradually start understanding that “I had become, just like my ancestors, an expelled.”
150 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 10, 2013
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11 people want to read
About the author
Mois Benarroch
220 books40 followersMois Benarroch is one of the most enigmatic figures in today's world literature. Born in Morocco, his writings are rooted in the country's landscapes and history; as a Sephardi Jew he travels the world of Jewish literature; and as in Israeli living in Jerusalem he incorporates the day to day life and politics of his country. A prolific novelist and poet who writes in three languages he never sets for one secure path and is always exploring new ways to make his literature a fresh one with a long time vision.
His poetry is one of compassion, social-political fight, and human. Multicultural by force, where others take multiculturalism as an idea, his life is forced to live within cultures. His novels take us from literary travel, to science-fiction, time travel back and forth, and a view that encompasses the past and the future, the relationships between Jews and Muslims, the life within cultures and the tragic fate of Christian-Jewish relations, always living a place for hope a belief in better days to come.
Known mainly as a poet in the English language world, thanks to a massive support from independent writers many of his novels are seeing light in English. Gates to Tangier, The Cathedral, Muriel, the Nobel Prize, Lucena, Raque Says (Something Entirely Unexpected), have been published in 2015 and many more are on their way in the next year.
A best-selling novelist in Spain, an award winning poet in Israel, and often featured in the bestselling list of poetry books sold in amazon, now is the time to discover this old new writer with more than 30 books to his name.
Mois Benarroch was born in 1959, and has been awarded with the prestigious Amichay poetry prize in 2012.
"GATES TO TANGIER/EN LAS PUERTAS DE TÁNGER is not primarily a critique of the marginalization of the Sephardim in Israel, but rather an exploration of the Moroccan component of Sephardic identity. The Benzimra's pilgrimage to Tangiers, however is not suggesting that this Moroccan component is the essence of Sephardic identity. Benarroch follows Khatibi's bilingual paradigm in suggesting that identity is expressed in the intersection of languages. At one point in the novel, Alberto reflects on the significance of his own bilingual écriture... Unlike Bendahan, who translates Sephardic identity as ultimately European, the Sephardic communities are after all "embajadas españolas" Benarroch explores the Moroccaness of Sephardic identity as it is rearticulated, deferred, by Spanish and Hebrew... The search for the missing brother represents the promise of a stable identity, a mirage that in EN EN LAS PUERTAS DE TÁNGER is constantly metamorphosing. Toward the end of the novel, we find out Yusuf was injured during his circumcision and the doctors decided to treat him with hormones transforming him into Zohra Elbaz. While in Tangiers, Zohra runs into Fortu/Messod and they spend the night together at fortu-Messod's hotel. Benarroch has Zohra run into not one, not two, but three Benzimra men."
Adolfo Campoy-Cubillo. Memories of the Maghreb: Transnational Identities in Spanish Cultural Production,
Mois Benarroch nació en Tetuán, Marruecos en 1959. A los trece años emigra con sus padres a Israel y desde entonces vive en Jerusalén. Empieza a escribir poesía a los quince años, en inglés, después en hebreo, y finalmente en su lengua materna, el castellano. Publica sus primeros poemas en 1979. En los años 80 forma parte de varios grupos de vanguardia y edita la revista Marot. Su primer libro en hebreo aparece en 1994, titulado "Coplas del inmigrante". Publica también dos libros de cuentos, varios libros de poemas en Hebreo , Inglés y Español, y cuatro novelas. En el 2008 es galardonado con el premio del primer ministro en Israel.
En España ha publicado el poemario "Esquina en Tetuán" (Esquío, 2000) y en 2005 la novela "Lucena" (Lf ediciones). En el 2008 la editorial Destino publica la novela "En Las Puertas De Tánger"que llegó al TOP5 en Kindle Espa
His poetry is one of compassion, social-political fight, and human. Multicultural by force, where others take multiculturalism as an idea, his life is forced to live within cultures. His novels take us from literary travel, to science-fiction, time travel back and forth, and a view that encompasses the past and the future, the relationships between Jews and Muslims, the life within cultures and the tragic fate of Christian-Jewish relations, always living a place for hope a belief in better days to come.
Known mainly as a poet in the English language world, thanks to a massive support from independent writers many of his novels are seeing light in English. Gates to Tangier, The Cathedral, Muriel, the Nobel Prize, Lucena, Raque Says (Something Entirely Unexpected), have been published in 2015 and many more are on their way in the next year.
A best-selling novelist in Spain, an award winning poet in Israel, and often featured in the bestselling list of poetry books sold in amazon, now is the time to discover this old new writer with more than 30 books to his name.
Mois Benarroch was born in 1959, and has been awarded with the prestigious Amichay poetry prize in 2012.
"GATES TO TANGIER/EN LAS PUERTAS DE TÁNGER is not primarily a critique of the marginalization of the Sephardim in Israel, but rather an exploration of the Moroccan component of Sephardic identity. The Benzimra's pilgrimage to Tangiers, however is not suggesting that this Moroccan component is the essence of Sephardic identity. Benarroch follows Khatibi's bilingual paradigm in suggesting that identity is expressed in the intersection of languages. At one point in the novel, Alberto reflects on the significance of his own bilingual écriture... Unlike Bendahan, who translates Sephardic identity as ultimately European, the Sephardic communities are after all "embajadas españolas" Benarroch explores the Moroccaness of Sephardic identity as it is rearticulated, deferred, by Spanish and Hebrew... The search for the missing brother represents the promise of a stable identity, a mirage that in EN EN LAS PUERTAS DE TÁNGER is constantly metamorphosing. Toward the end of the novel, we find out Yusuf was injured during his circumcision and the doctors decided to treat him with hormones transforming him into Zohra Elbaz. While in Tangiers, Zohra runs into Fortu/Messod and they spend the night together at fortu-Messod's hotel. Benarroch has Zohra run into not one, not two, but three Benzimra men."
Adolfo Campoy-Cubillo. Memories of the Maghreb: Transnational Identities in Spanish Cultural Production,
Mois Benarroch nació en Tetuán, Marruecos en 1959. A los trece años emigra con sus padres a Israel y desde entonces vive en Jerusalén. Empieza a escribir poesía a los quince años, en inglés, después en hebreo, y finalmente en su lengua materna, el castellano. Publica sus primeros poemas en 1979. En los años 80 forma parte de varios grupos de vanguardia y edita la revista Marot. Su primer libro en hebreo aparece en 1994, titulado "Coplas del inmigrante". Publica también dos libros de cuentos, varios libros de poemas en Hebreo , Inglés y Español, y cuatro novelas. En el 2008 es galardonado con el premio del primer ministro en Israel.
En España ha publicado el poemario "Esquina en Tetuán" (Esquío, 2000) y en 2005 la novela "Lucena" (Lf ediciones). En el 2008 la editorial Destino publica la novela "En Las Puertas De Tánger"que llegó al TOP5 en Kindle Espa
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 9, 2017
(The Following review is originally published at OnlineBookClub.org URL: https://forums.onlinebookclub.org/vie...)
Mois Benarroch, an award-winning poet and novelist (Amichai Prize, Prime Minister Prize), is an author of more than twenty books. His short novel, The Expelled, is part of a compendium of seven novels under the name Amor y Exilios (Love and Exile).
This remarkable novella relates the story of a writer who falls in love with a young woman, Gabrielle, whose name and appearance are exactly like his wife’s, only she is twenty-five years younger. A question arises whether they are the same person or not. The mysterious event shapes a narrative which reveals vivid features immanent to magic realism, or, more accurately, to metafiction, genres that reject any of the conventional rules imposed by traditional modernism. It is not long before the reader is forced to consider the story not only as a creative product but as a creative process. As the unnamed writer admits:
“It could very well be the pure imagination of a writer, an idea to write a novel or a story, although I am not very good at writing short stories, I need more words. It must have been just that, one should not play with coincidences or imagination.”
The overt romance, then, quickly fades away when both characters enter the fictive world of the writer-protagonist’s short novel. There, the kidnapping of a bus slowly shapes itself into an allegory of the problematic relationship between Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews. The bus is separated between the ‘back’ people and the ‘front’ people, and those adjectives, at first only terms used for better accuracy, soon become vividly emblematic of social classes and ethnic groups. In the aftermath of this event, while the central plot is seeking to find out who gunned down Cash, one of the ‘back’ people in the bus, the passengers recount their individual stories about that time when they were all together “between two seas, two worlds.” But whom to?
The self-reflexivity of the novel becomes ever more apparent when the main protagonist’s soliloquy is interrupted by his mysterious interrogators.
“Well, I see that in here I'm going to be talking alone and nobody is going to respond to anything. I don't even know if you're listening, maybe you've fallen asleep, or there's just one of you, or you're recording this and then you'll listen to only parts of what I say.”
This narrative bifurcation befuddles the reader as he sinks deeper and deeper into these metafictional layers and, at the same time, is invited by the very character to take his active role in interpreting the events (“… if I write our encounter one day it'll be a story in which someone tells a story about someone who's telling a story.”).
The Expelled is one of those literary gems with quantum-like properties which deem any genre categorization impossible. Apart from some minor editorial imperfections, a solid 3 out of 5 is what any perceptive reader would rate this brilliant piece of writing. Benarroch’s flouted play with fiction and reality gains him a well-deserved place right next to Wells, Fowles, and Borges.
Mois Benarroch, an award-winning poet and novelist (Amichai Prize, Prime Minister Prize), is an author of more than twenty books. His short novel, The Expelled, is part of a compendium of seven novels under the name Amor y Exilios (Love and Exile).
This remarkable novella relates the story of a writer who falls in love with a young woman, Gabrielle, whose name and appearance are exactly like his wife’s, only she is twenty-five years younger. A question arises whether they are the same person or not. The mysterious event shapes a narrative which reveals vivid features immanent to magic realism, or, more accurately, to metafiction, genres that reject any of the conventional rules imposed by traditional modernism. It is not long before the reader is forced to consider the story not only as a creative product but as a creative process. As the unnamed writer admits:
“It could very well be the pure imagination of a writer, an idea to write a novel or a story, although I am not very good at writing short stories, I need more words. It must have been just that, one should not play with coincidences or imagination.”
The overt romance, then, quickly fades away when both characters enter the fictive world of the writer-protagonist’s short novel. There, the kidnapping of a bus slowly shapes itself into an allegory of the problematic relationship between Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews. The bus is separated between the ‘back’ people and the ‘front’ people, and those adjectives, at first only terms used for better accuracy, soon become vividly emblematic of social classes and ethnic groups. In the aftermath of this event, while the central plot is seeking to find out who gunned down Cash, one of the ‘back’ people in the bus, the passengers recount their individual stories about that time when they were all together “between two seas, two worlds.” But whom to?
The self-reflexivity of the novel becomes ever more apparent when the main protagonist’s soliloquy is interrupted by his mysterious interrogators.
“Well, I see that in here I'm going to be talking alone and nobody is going to respond to anything. I don't even know if you're listening, maybe you've fallen asleep, or there's just one of you, or you're recording this and then you'll listen to only parts of what I say.”
This narrative bifurcation befuddles the reader as he sinks deeper and deeper into these metafictional layers and, at the same time, is invited by the very character to take his active role in interpreting the events (“… if I write our encounter one day it'll be a story in which someone tells a story about someone who's telling a story.”).
The Expelled is one of those literary gems with quantum-like properties which deem any genre categorization impossible. Apart from some minor editorial imperfections, a solid 3 out of 5 is what any perceptive reader would rate this brilliant piece of writing. Benarroch’s flouted play with fiction and reality gains him a well-deserved place right next to Wells, Fowles, and Borges.
August 29, 2016
Cuando uno comienza a querer entender de donde viene y porqué somos lo que otros quieren que seamos, de donde viene esa sensación de no pertenecer y querer escapar de lo que creíamos nuestro; es ahí donde empezamos a buscar respuestas como lo hizo Mois Benarroch en su libro El Exiliado. Aunque desorienta en un principio, el autor nos va trasladando desde el comienzo por diferentes formas de interpretar la realidad que le acontece al mundo y a las sociedades que viven en él. En forma de espiral, las historias se van entrelazando entre la realidad y el surrealismo, rozando el delirio se esconden muchas conjeturas sobre cómo es el mundo, así como es la sensación de pertenecer o ser un excluido hasta en nuestra propia tierra.
Benarroch nos lleva por la narrativa de una forma ligera, seduciéndonos con una narrativa muy lograda para atraparnos en sus ocurrencias, manteniendo el suspenso en lo anormal que hallamos en sus letras junto con un narrador del que no podemos fiarnos ni desde sus dichos y menos de su memoria. La libertad que se toma al dibujarnos una realidad que ahonda entre lo fantástico y lo real es gratificante, lidera nuestra imaginación para hacernos entrar en ideas tan profundas como la creación del mito del bárbaro y el civilizado dentro de algo tan simple como un autobús. Nos lleva por el ancho camino de entender porque escribe el libro sin caer sólo en las imágenes de la locura, sino también en el despecho de un escritor con su tierra y tradiciones. Y las realidades que vamos observando se van conjugando poco a poco y su hilo debe ser seguido por el lector, que es lo más fino por lo que se puede cortar la narración.
El Exiliado termina siendo una obra corta que podemos disfrutar si nos interesa sumergirnos en realidades que nos hablan de los límites entre la aceptación y el rechazo de un país y como es la lucha por mantenerse a flote de ese conflicto natal. Apenas unas 116 páginas que nos van a mantener cautivos por la narrativa y el contraste con lo mágico para transmitir su fuerte mensaje.
Benarroch nos lleva por la narrativa de una forma ligera, seduciéndonos con una narrativa muy lograda para atraparnos en sus ocurrencias, manteniendo el suspenso en lo anormal que hallamos en sus letras junto con un narrador del que no podemos fiarnos ni desde sus dichos y menos de su memoria. La libertad que se toma al dibujarnos una realidad que ahonda entre lo fantástico y lo real es gratificante, lidera nuestra imaginación para hacernos entrar en ideas tan profundas como la creación del mito del bárbaro y el civilizado dentro de algo tan simple como un autobús. Nos lleva por el ancho camino de entender porque escribe el libro sin caer sólo en las imágenes de la locura, sino también en el despecho de un escritor con su tierra y tradiciones. Y las realidades que vamos observando se van conjugando poco a poco y su hilo debe ser seguido por el lector, que es lo más fino por lo que se puede cortar la narración.
El Exiliado termina siendo una obra corta que podemos disfrutar si nos interesa sumergirnos en realidades que nos hablan de los límites entre la aceptación y el rechazo de un país y como es la lucha por mantenerse a flote de ese conflicto natal. Apenas unas 116 páginas que nos van a mantener cautivos por la narrativa y el contraste con lo mágico para transmitir su fuerte mensaje.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews