Book Review: Look and Move on by Mohammed Mrabet

Look and Move On by Mohammed Mrabet
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Mohammed Mrabet is a Moroccan writer and artist who has lived most of his life in Tangier. This is his memoir of the days when it was an international haven for writers, artists, thieves, con men, homosexuals, pederasts, and the idle rich. Like For Bread Alone by Mohamed Choukri, it shows the flip side of this foreigner's paradise, the life of poor Moroccans struggling to survive and often having to serve the newcomers in various unpleasant ways.
Mrabet didn't escape this. At the age of sixteen, he got taken up by an American couple who vied with each other for his sexual favors. They take him to the U.S., where he has more fun with the local Puerto Ricans and blacks than he does with the staid middle class whites. There are some hilarious scenes of culture clashes in these passages. Later he meets Paul and Jane Bowles, who launch his career as a writer. They, too, take him to the States with similarly numerous results. We also get to follow Mrabet's adventures with European swingers, falling into matrimony, and his rather Zen philosophy of life.
While I found this slim volume fascinating because I've spent a lot of time in Tangier and read a great deal about its history, someone who isn't a fan of the place will miss a lot of the references. For example, Marguerite McBey is mentioned but nothing is said about her important place in Tangier society. I hope this work is republished with a long introduction to explain the context to those readers who have not learned about it from other sources.

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Military History Photo Friday: The Pharaoh Ramesses II Smiting the Enemies of Egypt

This carving is from the National Museum in Cairo and shows Pharaoh Ramesses II (1279-1212 BC) smiting the traditional enemies of Egypt. Shown from left to right are a Nubian, a Libyan, and an Asiatic (perhaps a Hittite). The "smiting pose" was a popular one for pharaonic imagery. Ramesses has an axe in his hand.

Ramesses II campaigned against all three of these peoples, but is most famous for his long war with the Hittites, an empire based in what is now Turkey that had spread into the Levant and threatened Egypt. His victory at the Battle of Kadesh was recorded in a long and bombastic text that was copied onto many later buildings.

Sorry for the grubby picture and the light reflection. The National Museum needs to clean its display cases!

Military History Photo Friday: El Castillo de San José in Lanzarote, Canary Islands

As I mentioned on Monday, I was on vacation in Lanzarote all last week. Even though I wasn't writing, I was keeping my eye out for interesting blog post material. This week on Black Gate I blogged about the island's Piracy Museum, and next week will see another Lanzarote post as well.

And here's something for this blog, a fort called El Castillo de San José, which guarded the approach to the port of Arrecife. It was built between 1776 and 1779. The whole island is dotted with forts to protect the various harbors from pirates and rival powers such as the British.

A combination double-header outhouse and gun turret. The soldiers were apparently not shy, or just lonely.

This particular fort was actually built in a time of relative peace as a make-work project for the islanders, who were going through tough economic times thanks to a drought and a volcanic eruption that ruined the crops. Thus it earned the name Fortaleza del Hambre (Hunger Fortress).

It now houses a contemporary art museum and a cool restaurant/bar that retains its 1970s decor.

The restaurant gives a fine view of the fishing port.

The original Seventies interior is intact.

Even the stairs to the bathroom are groovy!

Military History Photo Friday: Traditional African Weapons

A collection of Kpinga, a type of throwing knife used by the Azande people of southern Egypt and northern Sudan. They were equipped with various blades to increase the risk of cutting when thrown. They were high status items, only used by elite warriors (it must have taken some training to throw one accurately!) and were also given as part of the bride price when a man wanted to get married.

Last week I blogged about an interesting collection of African shields at the Ethnological Museum in Cairo. It's one of many attractions in that wonderful city that I got to visit while writing my next novel, The Masked Man of Cairo, which I'm happy to say is almost done.

Besides the shields, the museum also has a collection of African weapons, mostly, I believe, from the Sudan and captured during the Anglo-Sudan War, when the British fought the Mahdi from 1896-99. Like with the shields, I'm hardly an expert, so any help identifying these objects would be highly appreciated.

All photos copyright Sean McLachlan. Sorry about the quality of some of them. The display cases are in desperate need of a good cleaning!

Various knives and cleavers.

The sign says "sticks used by drummers" but they look like clubs to me, and are in the weapons room, after all.

A variety of spears. The broad-leafed blades are typical of those carried by the Mahdi's army.

The top broadsword was a typical type used by the Mahdi's men. The sword on the bottom has a sheath made of crocodile skin. What better way to show off your manliness?

Military History Photo Friday: African Shields

A variety of shields. The small round ones in the center are Ethiopian. One on the left has decorated brass fittings. The one next to it is made of hippopotamus hide. I believe the other shields are from the Sudan and Kenya, but I'm not sure. That skinny one on the lower left is a Dinka shield. The Dinka are from south Sudan and their shields only covered the hand, with the rod being used to parry blows. The shield on the right just above the elephant tusk is made of a turtle shell.

One of the more unusual museums I visited on my recent trip to Cairo was the Ethnological Museum. This is a very old-school museum with displays that don't look like they've been changed much in the past fifty years. It contains a good collection of costume, day-to-day objects, and weapons and armor. This includes an impressive array of East African shields that I'm showing here. In the upper floor is the Ethnographic Society with a lovely Victorian lecture hall and a sizeable library.

Located just off Tahrir Square, the heart of the famous 2011 revolution, it's one of the best guarded museums I have ever seen. Part of the grounds have been converted into a police headquarters. To get onto the property I had to go through a metal detector and show my passport. Then a cop with a machine gun escorted me to the museum. From there a museum official followed me from room to room until I left. No one is stealing these shields!

I'm far from an expert on African shields, although I am familiar with the Ethiopian forms. Unfortunately there was no signage in this room to help me. My identifications should thus be taken with a grain of salt. Any help identifying these fascinating pieces of African militaria would be highly appreciated!

The top shield is made of the plastron (belly part of the shell) of a giant turtle.

Two more shields. Like the vast majority of the shields in this collection, they are made of animal hide, which was strong enough to counter blows from clubs, arrows, and spears, but useless against bullets.

Two Ethiopian style shields. They may actually be from Sudan as this shield type was used there as well. They may, in fact, have been captured during the Anglo-Sudan War, when the British fought the Mahdi from 1896-99. Several weapons in the collection certainly come from the Mahdist army. I'll be showing those in a later post.

Travel Tuesday: El Castillo de Aulencia, Spain

My wife works about 15 miles outside of Madrid and this castle is right next to her research institute. Spring has finally sprung here in Spain and she took this amazing photo. It the winter this castle looks completely different, dark and brooding on its bare hill.

This is the Castillo de Aulencia, which guarded the confluence of the Aulencia and Guadarrama rivers. It started as an Arab castle until it was captured by the advancing Christian armies in the 14th century. They rebuilt the castle and most of what you see today dates to the 15th century. After the Reconquista pushed the Moors further and further south, this castle became less useful, especially after the Moors were kicked out of Spain entirely in 1492. Then it was allowed to slowly decay.

It took a few hits during the Spanish Civil War when the Battle of Brunete raged around it in 1937. It had a good view of the surrounding countryside so a unit of Russian volunteers on the Republican side held it for a time. The fascists pummeled the walls with artillery fire, forcing the Russians to withdraw.

Unfortunately this castle is not open to the public. This is the closest I've ever been!

Photo courtesy Almudena Alonso-Herrero.

Book Review: The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing

The Grass is Singing by Doris Lessing
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the acclaimed first novel of Nobel Prize winning author Doris Lessing and it's every bit as good as its hype. Written in the 1940s when she was living in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), it's a brutally honest look at how white farmers treated the African natives while slowing becoming debased themselves. One is treated to lines like this: ". . .when a white man in Africa by accident looks into the eyes of a native and sees the human being (which it is his chief preoccupation to avoid), his sense of guilt, which he denies, fumes up in resentment and he brings down the whip."

This is one of the key lines to understanding the novel. Brutality and convention are used to cover up personal weakness. Convention preys especially hard on the female protagonist, a fun-loving and superficial young woman who one day overhears her friends laughing at her behind her back because she's still not married. Desperate to be accepted, she says yes to the first man who asks, an incompetent farmer who brings her to his farm to live in squalor. The beauty of the African landscape and the harshness of its sun are both drawn beautifully, as is the slow deterioration of the main characters. The couple have no other family, no friends, no real contact with the outside world. Even World War Two is a vague rumor. The miserable wife, slowly going insane, has an unthinkable relationship with the "houseboy" that leads to a final, inevitable end.

What a first novel! Incredibly rich prose carries a terrifying portrait of people destroying themselves through their own frailty and misplaced pride. It's no wonder Lessing went on to be famous. It's a grim read, though. Now I'm going to pick up something light!

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Travel Tuesday: Little Details from Famous Sites

When I'm traveling, I like to get shots of the little details. Of course I get the big scenes too, but those little details are often just as interesting. Last week on the Black Gate blog I wrote about Lalibela, an amazing UNESCO World Heritage Site in Ethiopia. Back in the 12th century, the Ethiopians constructed eleven magnificent churches by cutting them out of the bedrock. That's right, they didn't build up, they dug down!

Lalibela is an impressive site, and in the post I linked to above I published some views of the exterior and interior of the churches. I also got some more intimate shots. The above photo shows the lock and bolt on one of the church doors. I like how the indirect sunlight brings out the texture of the wood. Below is a shot of some Ethiopian crosses for sale in a nearby shop. Lalibela is a major pilgrimage site for Ethiopian Christians and the distinct Ethiopian crosses are popular mementos for Ethiopians and foreigners alike. I like how the red background really brings out the brass of the crosses.

So the next time you're at the Eiffel Tower of the Pyramids, don't miss the little details!

Military History Photo Friday: Colonial Forts in Morocco

This shot shows the Casbah de la Cigogne, a 17th century Spanish fort protecting the harbor of Larache in Morocco. The coastline of Africa is studded with old colonial forts, many of which are falling into decay. This one is now a hangout for the local drug addicts. You can read more about the fort and the city it protected in a post about Larache I did for the Black Gate blog.

A view of the Casbah de la Cigogne from the seaside. Photo courtesy user Dans via Wikimedia Commons. When we were there the sun was right behind the fort so all I got was a silhouette. Timing is everything in photography!

Below is part of the 15th century Portuguese fortifications in Asilah, a notorious pirate haven on the Atlantic coast. For more on this cool spot, check out my Black Gate post on Asilah. I blog every Wednesday on Black Gate, usually on travel mixed in with the occasional book review or con report.

For more on colonial forts in Morocco and elsewhere, check out the excellent website Colonial Voyage. They have a good article on Portuguese forts in Morocco.

Military History Photo Friday: African Battle Dioramas

What are these little guys up to? They're fighting the Battle of the Three Kings in 1578. This battle saw the Portuguese get involved in a fight for succession for the Moroccan Sultinate. The diorama was created by famous military miniaturist Edward Suren and now is on display in the American Legation in Tangier, Morocco.

Another of his dioramas shows the Battle of Tondibi in 1591, when the Sultan of Morocco invaded what is now northern Mali. He won the battle, but after a grueling desert march realized he's never control this remote region and went back home.

I've written about these battles, and the dioramas that depict them, in a pair of articles for Black Gate. Click the links for more info and large-format photos!

Travel Tuesday: Lixus, A Roman City in Morocco

Hello from Morocco! I'm back in one of my favorite countries for the next two weeks. I'll be staying in Tangier, as usual, and will be taking a road trip to the ancient Roman city of Lixus.

Like many Roman cities in North Africa, it was originally a Phoenician city, founded in the 7th century BC. It became a Roman city in the early 1st century AD. It's most famous for its fine Roman mosaics that I've blogged about previously and also its amphitheater.

I've been blogging a lot about Morocco over at Black Gate. You might want to check out my articles on Morocco's only stone circle, the old pirate port of Asilah, the medieval medina in Tetouan, and my experience living in a Moroccan home.

These photos are courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. My own photos will come soon!

Book Review: A History of Ancient Egypt by Nicolas Grimal

A History of Ancient Egypt by Nicolas Grimal
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

You know those books that you find kind of dull but you can't put down because they're teaching you so much you want to learn? This was one of those books for me. This is a detailed history of Ancient Egypt from the Predynastic Period until the end of the Late Period. Emphasis is on royalty and their great works of architecture. While this is all fascinating, I could have used more information about regular people, the economy, technology, and all the other aspects of this complex civilization.
I could have also used prose that was less dry, maps that were more complete, and more explanation of terms to lessen confusion.
That said, I couldn't put this book down. There was so much information packed in its dense type that I was learning several things I didn't know on every page, and I have a Masters in archaeology. Granted, my focus was early medieval Europe, but I've still read a lot of Egyptology. This is not a book for the lay reader, but rather someone who has done a fair amount of reading.
If you're looking for a good intro to Ancient Egypt, this is not it. If you have some knowledge and want to learn more, try this out.

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Travel Tuesday: Roman Mosaics in Morocco

Venus and Adonis.

Morocco became part of the Roman Empire in 40 AD as the province of Mauretania Tingitana. There are several good archaeological sites in the country, including the famous city of Volubilis and several smaller cities such as Lixus.

In the archaeological museum of Tetouan, there are a number of fine mosaics from Lixus. Originally a Phoenician city founded in the 7th century BC, it prospered under Roman rule. The mosaics you see here were all made in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. Life wasn't always peaceful in Roman Mauretania Tingitana, however, as you can see from this picture of a most unfortunate Roman soldier.

For some more shots of this kind of art, check out my post on Roman gladiator mosaics.

Mars and Rhea Silvia.

The three graces.

Military History Photo Friday: WWI Moroccan Soldiers Receiving Medals

This photo shows General Joffre, Commander-in-Chief of French forces on the Western Front, decorating soldiers of the French Moroccan Division in 1914 or 1915. The general is seen giving one lucky soldier a friendly peck on each cheek, a French (and North African) tradition. One of those things you have to get used to when traveling in North Africa!

It's hard to see what medal they are receiving but an enlarged image of this photo suggests that at least for the man to Joffre's right it is a Medaille Coloniale ("Colonial Medal"). That's what it looks like to me anyway, although that medal was generally given to soldiers fighting in the colonies, not colonial soldiers fighting in France! It certainly isn't the Croix de Guerre I wrote about earlier on this blog.

Anyone else out there have a guess?

Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Military History Photo Friday: Frontier Forts of the Emperor Hadrian

Photo courtesy Jean-Pierre Neri via Wikimedia Commons.

This is an aerial photo of Lambaesis, a Roman fort in what is now Algeria. It was built during the reign of Emperor Hadrian (117–138 AD). This was a permanent camp for the III Augusta legion complete with fortification walls, baths, an amphitheater, and temples.

Meanwhile, at the empire's northern frontier at the edge of Scotland, Hadrian was building the wall that would bear his name. The below photo is an aerial view of Housesteads fort, situated on the wall and the base for the II Augusta legion. While it's smaller than the contemporary fort in Algeria, you can see that its based on a very similar plan. The Romans standardized many of their buildings, only varying them because of special needs or terrain. Thus if a legionnaire decided to switch from the III to the II legion, and moved from the heat of Algeria to the damp of Scotland, he'd be able to make his way around the fort without any problem.

A few years ago I did a series about hiking Hadrian's Wall on the now-defunct travel blog Gadling. The photo galleries are gone but all my text is still up.

The photo of Housesteads is courtesy the Tynedale U3A. Hadrian's Wall Group, which is doing great work educating the public about Hadrian's Wall.

Military History Photo Friday: Fighting the Barbary Pirates

This lovely naval painting was made c. 1615 by the Dutch painter Aert Anthonisz. It shows a French ship battling two galleys of the infamous Barbary pirates. These pirates harassed shipping along the coast of North Africa starting as far back as the 9th century. Their heyday was in the 15th-19th centuries, and various European powers such as France, Spain, and Portugal used these attacks as an excuse to colonize North Africa.

The Barbary Pirates earned a bad reputation for attacking ships and selling the crews and passengers into slavery. Of course, European pirates were doing the same thing, but since the African pirates were enslaving Europeans, they were considered beyond the pale. At least by the Europeans.

There were numerous battles against the pirates, but their activity didn't die down until a general decline of piracy in the Atlantic and Mediterranean in the late 19th century. By then, the great powers had sizable navies and the seas were better patrolled.

On the Atlantic coast of Morocco, however, one pirate continued until well into the 20th century. I've written more about that in my post for Black Gate this week.


Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Military History Photo Friday: A Most Unfortunate Roman

If you take a close look at this skull, you'll notice a metal point had punched right through it. This poor fellow currently resides in the archaeological museum in Tetouan, Morocco. Two thousand years ago it was the Roman province of Mauritania, and this man was a soldier protecting the empire against hostile tribes to the south. Sadly he made the ultimate sacrifice for his country.

Military History Photo Friday: Kasbah Tourit, Ouarzazate, Morocco

Hello from Morocco! As many of you know, I'm spending October in Tangier writing my next novel. It's set here, so my being here isn't just writerly indulgence. :-) Internet access will be a bit sporadic so I probably won't be blogging as regularly as usual. In fact, this post was written before I left!

This fine castle is the Kasbah Tourit, in Ouarzazate, southern Morocco. Kasbahs are fortified homes or walled private villages for the various tribal rulers of premodern Morocco, and this one is one of the best-preserved and most famous. It was one of the many forts of the Glaoui Berber tribe. They ruled over much of southern Morocco and the Atlas Mountains and in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were one of the most powerful tribes in North Africa.

Under the rule of T'hami Glaoui (ruled 1912-1956), they were at the height of their power. He held the title of Pasha of Marrakesh, and his rule extended far beyond that important city. He was one of the richest men in the world and hobnobbed with the leading figures of his day, including Winston Churchill and Queen Elizabeth. On the other hand, he ruled like a feudal monarch. When he wasn't torturing people in his dungeons or putting the severed heads of rebels and thieves on the city walls, he was building golf courses in the desert or relaxing with his large harem of concubines.

He also played politics, steering the course of Morocco's future as it went from being a colony to an independent state and securing lasting rights for the Berber peoples in the face of Arab domination of the government. He also left behind numerous fine buildings such as this one.

Below is a back view. Both photos are from Wikimedia Commons. I visited this Kasbah many years ago, but didn't have the time this week to dig out my old shots, made back when I still had a film camera. Remember when we had to pay for every picture?

Hope to blog again soon!

Travel Tuesday: Arzila, Morocco

As regular readers of this blog know, I will be spending the entire month of October working on a novel in Tangier. While I'll be busy with work and hanging out with my friends there, I'll also make time for a few side trips. Two places I very much want to see are the historic towns of Tétouan and Arzila.

Here are a few shots of Arzila, taken from Wikimedia Commons since I haven't been there yet. My own photos will come soon!

Arzila started as a Phoenician trading port on the Atlantic coast back in 1500 BC. It passed through various hands over the centuries, including the Moroccans, the Portuguese, and the Spanish. It has a well preserved medina (old city) with winding medieval streets and touches of old architecture. Its city walls still stand as a memory of regular raids. Sometimes it was the locals doing the raiding--it was a den of pirates during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

I'll be visiting in October, but I'm going to have to return sometime in the summer when there's a huge, two-month arts and cultural festival. While it's sure to be crazy busy with visitors at that time, the festival is apparently stunning and well worth hacking through the crowds.

Sounds pretty interesting, and it's only 50 kilometers from Tangier!

Military History Photo Friday: Skirmish in the Mountains of Morocco

Next week I'm heading to Tangier, Morocco, to spend a month finishing up a novel set there. So I'm in a Moroccan frame of mind. This week, here's Eugene Delacroix's 1863 Orientalist painting "Arabs Skirmishing in the Mountains." A detail is below.

I'll be popping up to the mountains once or twice during my stay. Hopefully I won't get involved anything like this!

Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.