- Abdelwahab Meddeb (1946 – 2014, Tunisia) – Talismano (1979, English trans. Talismano, 2011). This novel portrays the narrator’s imaginary return to the cities of his youth from his life in Paris. It describes these cities in Tunisia based on his imagination and memory, resulting in a hallucinatory journey that reflects on Arab, Islamic, and European culture, identity, and history (reference). While doing so, the novel also makes religious references, particularly Sufi references, as it invokes and celebrates Sufi figures, texts, and rituals. It also depicts a popular rebellion against Bourguiba-era Tunisia in the shape of a crowd that makes its way through the city (also in R: Religion and Sectarianism: Islam: Sufism).
Refrences:
In order of appearance
- Hoda El Shakry. 2019. The Literary Qur’an: Narrative Ethics in the Maghreb. Fordham University Press: New York, p. 60