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Impasse of the Angels: Scenes from a Moroccan Space of Memory
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Impasse of the Angels: Scenes from a Moroccan Space of Memory Hardcover - 1998 - 1st Edition

by Stefania Pandolfo

From the publisher

The image of the ethnographer in the field who observes his or her subjects from a distance while copiously taking notes has given way in recent years to a more critical and engaged form of anthropology. Composed as a polyphonic dialogue of texts, Stefania Pandolfo's Impasse of the Angels takes this engagement to its limit by presenting the relationship between observer and observed as one of interacting equals and mutually constituting interlocuters. Impasse of the Angels explores what it means to be a subject in the historical and poetic imagination of a southern Moroccan society. Passionate and lyrical, ironic and tragic, the book listens to dissonant, often idiosyncratic voices--poetic texts, legends, social spaces, folktales, conversations--which elaborate in their own ways the fractures, wounds, and contradictions of the Maghrib postcolonial present. Moving from concrete details in a traditional ethnographic sense to a creative, experiential literary style, Impasse of the Angels is a tale of life and death compellingly addressing readers from anthropology, literature, philosophy, postcolonial criticism, and Middle Eastern studies.

First line

Yusef left the map he had drawn in a corner, and moved away.

From the rear cover

In Impasse of the Angels, Stefania Pandolfo takes the critical engagement of anthropology to its limit by presenting the relationship between observer and observed as one of interacting equals and mutually constituting subjects. Narrating, debating, and imagining, real characters take center stage and, through their act of speech, invent a people rather than stand for it. Exploring what it means to be a subject in the historical and poetic imagination of a Moroccan society, Impasse of the Angels listens to dissonant and often idiosyncratic voices elaborate the fractures, wounds, and contradictions of the Maghribi postcolonial present. Passionate and lyric, ironic and tragic, it is a transformative narrative experiment traveling the boundary of ethnography and fiction.

Details

  • Title Impasse of the Angels: Scenes from a Moroccan Space of Memory
  • Author Stefania Pandolfo
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition number 1st
  • Edition 1
  • Pages 397
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher University of Chicago Press
  • Date February 28, 1998
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Bibliography, Illustrated, Index
  • ISBN 9780226645315 / 0226645312
  • Weight 1.58 lbs (0.72 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.22 x 6.2 x 1.09 in (23.42 x 15.75 x 2.77 cm)
  • Library of Congress subjects Ethnology - Morocco - Dra Wadi, Oral tradition - Morocco - Dra Wadi
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 97005473
  • Dewey Decimal Code 305.800

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