L’Amande
by by Nedjma
(Doubleday)
A recent novel, written by an Arab woman under the pseudonym Nedjma and first published in France, has become an unpredictable bestseller.
At once crude and elegant, L’Amande(the almond) is an erotic story that follows the adventures of Badra, a young Moroccan woman. Her sexual exploits range from youthful lesbian explorations to a loveless and sexually repressive marriage to a much older man, and to her “sexual awakening” in liberal Tangiers, where she has a torrid, 10-year affair with a wealthy European doctor.
This book has received international acclaim as a boundary-breaking tale, told by a Muslim woman who rescues her sexuality from a culture of repression. Her ambition, she says, “is to give back to the women of my blood the power of speech confiscated by their fathers, brothers and husbands”. As with literatures of other societies, the book takes into account that women’s liberation is closely related to sexuality.
Yet, Badra’s escapades are hardly the awakenings of a repressed sexuality. In flashbacks to her life in rural Imchouk, she tells of being fascinated by the town’s whores, of being kissed by one of them and longing for more. She tells of a year-long lesbian affair at boarding school, and of being groped by a stranger and loving it. In some senses, her story appeals directly to Western fantasies about liberating the Muslim woman from the veil — and it is easy to see how such a book would gain approval from a French or American audience.
Even though L’Amande has been hailed as an urgent manifesto for women reclaiming their sexuality from a repressive culture and of religiosity free from misogyny, it is interesting to note that Badra, throughout her escapades in Tangiers, mourns her loss of culture and faith. She views her new lifestyle as “haram”, or forbidden, and she is constantly praying for forgiveness for what she has become. It is only when she returns to rural Imchouk and revives her life as a devout Muslim that she manages to be at peace with herself and to gain real control of her life.
Nedjma has created a beautiful work of art. As Catherine Millet, author of The Sexual Life of Catherine M, puts it: “It is the story, dense and lyrical at once, without concession and also without illusion, of sexual passion.” This is a book of incredible audacity and an intimacy laid bare. It derives its force from the author’s gift for combining beauty and obscenity. It is a homage to the ancient Arab civilisation, where “both giving and receiving pleasure was one of the duties of the believer”.
Striking in its bold and pragmatic exploration of female sexuality, L’Amande is a sensual praise poem to the vagina — and a beautiful contribution to erotic literature.