International Tangier: a literary route

     El pasado 30 de mayo  un grupo de estudiantes de Bachillerato de Segundo y yo realizamos una visita a la “ Interzone” de los 50 y 60 en Tánger. En un intento de recrear  el ambiente de esta época, nos centramos en una ruta que nos pudiera aproximar a la presencia literaria de escritores americanos, The Beats, que fueron decisivos  en el cambio de pensamiento social y político de estas décadas en Estados Unidos, y en el mundo Occidental. Y éstos,  se impregnaron a su vez, de lo que conocieron y aprendieron en esta “Interzone”, como la llamó W. Burroughs.

ACTIVITY:  INTERNATIONAL  TANGIER: A Visit to the Interzone

       Last May 30^th a group of students of 2^nd Bachillerato and I had the naïve intention of trying to feel what is left from the 50s and 60s atmosphere on the Interzone in Tangiers.

   We had been working on a rough research in class some days before, in which we shared some core ideas on the so determinant political and social changes in the sixties, a decade in which civil society revolutions had a so prominent role.

       Literature trends reflect the best, or at least it used to do so, social scene changes, and we discovered in our research, that some of the most relevant actors of this scene, and thought change in the 60s, had been living, writing and producing here in Tangier. The so-called literary trend, which turned into school of thought, the Beatniks, had also acquired part of their ideas living in here, a place which W. Borroughs named the Interzone. It happened to be that, Paul Bowles, an American writer who was living in Tangier, had also a great influence in this group, in the search of their Tangerine Dream.

Description of the Route

  We met at Severo Ochoa highschool front door at about 9:30. We walked towards the Medina and France Square. We stopped by at  Paris Café and Hotel Minzah, frequent places for meetings and parties in the International Tangier in the 40s and 50s. 

       We took the Oualili Rue and Rue du Portugal to enter the walled medina, and we went to our appointment at the American Legation at 10:00. 

     We had  a visit and a previous explanation on how Tangier was administered by various foreign governments in the years of  International Tangier, and the character of the city at this time. We were listening all this historic explanation in a wonderful American English by our  museum guide, Mr Jadidi.

We had an overview on the museum room and wing dedicated to Paul Bowles and The Beats. 

   
    Following the medina, we arrived at the Museum Foundation Lorin, where an exhibition of old photographs of international Tangier is shown.   

     Afterwards, we did  a brief stop into the Café Colon, in front of Alcasar cinema, a café where Paul Bowles used to spend a lot of time, and where  Bertolucci filmed some scenes in his famous movie based on Bowles’s novel  The Sheltering Sky.

     Across the “soco chico”, heart and  refuge for all kinds of bizarre aliens, we  headed to the Hotel Continental on Rue  Baroud, a mythical building of the golden age of the city, which still tries to  portray this image, and whose  spirit remains. We had a delicious  lunch at the  Hotel prepared by the Chef. We also crossed  the medina through the Rue M Torres, and paid a visit to the famous perfume shop Madini, the original. And we continued across some neighborhoods such as the Kasba where some billionaires like Barbara Hutton lived in luxurious palaces.

   Nuria Ferrús Audivert

tangier beatniks on PhotoPeach