The first English translation of a compelling work by a forerunner of modern Sephardi feminist literature.
The moving story of a Moroccan woman living in a patriarchal society, Mazaltob depicts the tension between tradition and modernity within a North African Jewish community. Mazaltob, a fourteen-year-old girl, is in love with a boy, Jean, but forced to marry a much older man with business interests in Argentina. He eventually returns to his work, leaving her behind in Tétouan.
First published in 1930, the Académie Française recognized Mazaltob with its annual prize, and subsequent readers have treasured the book for its elusive narrative voice, avant-garde blending of genres, and nuanced look at Sephardi Jewish customs. This translation brings the novel for the first time to English readers. Translators Yaëlle Azagury and Frances Malino retrieve fragments of a rich culture whose written traces, swept aside by the turbulent tides of history, have been largely erased. A historical introduction, a literary analysis, and annotations elucidate historical and cultural terms for readers, supplementing the author’s original notes.
