DESCRIPTION
"This slim booklet contains dynamite," wrote Policy in its 1966 review of new Moroccan quarterly magazine, Souffles. Instigated by a small group of self-professed "linguistic guerrillas" as "a manifesto for a new aesthetics in the Maghreb", it became a conduit for a new generation of writers, artists, and intellectuals to stage a revolution against imperialist and colonial cultural domination. The starting point for this revolution was language.
From its first issue, Souffles posed an aggressive challenge to the traditional Francophone and Arabophone literary divides by encouraging experimentation, translations and collaborations. It wasn't long before its trademark cover emblazoned with an intense black sun radiated throughout Africa, the Arab world, West Indies and the Black Atlantic. In the early 70s the magazine changed focus. Motivated by the crushing Arab defeat in Six-Day War and the Paris uprisings, its founder, editor and publisher Abdellatif Laabi declared that "Literature was no longer sufficient". After the fifteenth issue, dedicated to Palestine, Souffles underwent a major redesign, emerging as a new firebrand organ of leftist revolutionary group, Ila al-Amam. This new political agenda caught the attention of the authorities and in 1972 the magazine was banned and Laabi arrested. While in prison he was awarded several international poetry prizes. After a long solidarity campaign, he regained his freedom in 1980.
PEOPLE
Founder, editor and publisher Abdellatif Laâbi; artists including painter Mohamed Melehi who designed the trademark cover, Mohamed Melehi, Farid Belkahia and Mohamed Chebaa; poets and writers Mohamed Khaïrr-Eddin, Mostafa Nissaboury, Ahmed Bouanani, Abdallah Stouky, Malek Alloula, Toni Maraini, Mostafa Lacheraf; Azeddine Madani and Mohamed Aziz, Abdallah Laroui, Abdelkhebir Khatibi, Bernard Jakobiak and André Laude; political activist Abraham Serfaty; and Ila al-Amam leaders including Mohamed Berdouzi, Abdelfattah Fakihani and Mohamed Talbi.
FAMILY TREE
- Souffles was inspired by Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth, as well as early postcolonial writers such Aime Cesaire, Mario de Andrade, and Rene Depestre and journals like Presence Africaine. Thirty-five years since its demise, few publications have matched its stature, appeal, or intellectual authority. Its influence can however be felt in contemporary magazines such as Le Journal, Nichane and Biddoun.
RE/SOURCES
- Souffles on Wikipedia
- Souffles archive at CLICNET (issues 1 to 6).
- Souffles archive at Seattle University (issues 7 to 22).
- Maraini, Toni. "Black Sun of Renewal", documenta magazines.
- El Amrani, Issandr. "In the Beginning There was Souffles", Bidoun 13.
- Prevallet, Kristin. "Interview Abdellatif Laabi", Double Change, Paris, May 2001.
