Year of the Elephant

A Moroccan Woman’s Journey Toward Independence

By: Leila Abouzeid

Narrated by: Suehyla E. Young

In this moving fictional treatment of a Muslim woman's life, a personal and family crisis impells the heroine to reexamine traditional cultural attitudes toward women. Cast out and divorced by her husband, she finds herself in a strange new world. Both obstacles and support systems change as she actively participates in the struggle for Moroccan independence from France.

This feminist novel is a literary statement in a modern realist style. Many novels by women of the Middle East that have been translated reflect Western views, values, and education. By contrast, Year of the Elephant is uniquely Moroccan and emerges from North African Islamic culture itself. Its subtle juxtaposition of past and present, of immediate thought and triggered memory, reflects the heroine's interior conflict between tradition and modern demands. The title refers to a famous battle described in the Koran.

©2009 Center for Middle Eastern Studies at The University of Texas at Austin (P)2023 Audible, Inc.

A Moroccan Classic

Year of the Elephant is an excellent window into the history and society of Morocco. Serving as the perfect foil to the unfortunately-common Orientalist fantasies surrounding Morocco, the novella provides honest introspection so often lacking in works geared toward non-Moroccan readers. In Abouzeid’s writings, she manages to encapsulate a complex culture still working through the pains of post-colonial reality while tackling many of the many lingering issues brought on by this period. The novella, and other short stories, are absolutely mandatory reading for anyone interested in traveling to or living in Morocco.