Forthcoming Books

Recently Released Books

Complete Catalog

How to Order Books

Manuscript Guidelines

Rights & Permissions

Desk & Review Copies

Contact Us




The Lemon
The Lemon
By Mohammed Mrabet
Translated Paul Bowles
ISBN: 0-87286-181-3
181pp
Paperback Original
$8.95



This powerful and shocking narrative recounts the adventures of Abdeslam, a precocious twelve year-old Moroccan boy who runs away from his home in the Rif Mountains to Tangier. There he struggles to retain his childlike innocence and native pride while striving to support himself in the corrupt and decadent international port. He takes up with a longshoreman and soon meets a rogue’s gallery of friends, mostly hustlers and down-and-outers. With his characteristic brilliance and street-wise charm, Mrabet develops the novel’s ambiguous theme of the necessity of violence to retain one’s innocence.

Mohammad Mrabet was born in Tangier around 1940. In 1965, he met the American composer, writer, and translator Paul Bowles who has since taped and translated numerous strange legends and lively stories recounted by Mrabet into his own inimitable prose.

    “This is a masterpiece of simplicity and efficacity.” – Liberation, Paris

    “A surprising effective book.” – The New Yorker

    “The confrontation between cultures is beautifully dramatized. The simplicity of the narrative allies the novel with some of the most sophisticated new fiction.” – Saturday Review of Literature




City Lights Publishers Catalog by author:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y
Z

All City Lights Books are available in the City Lights Bookstore (Map & Directions ) and at other fine bookstores around the country. You can also order these books directly from our web site, simply click on the "add to cart" button next to the book of your choice. All orders will be sent by U.S. 4th Class Mail. For expedited shipping, or international orders, please see our Ordering Information .