Narrative
Stories of the Sahara
撒哈拉的故事
Sanmao · 1976
Synopsis
A young Taiwanese woman and her Spanish husband, José, live in El Aaiún, in the Sahara, then under Spanish administration. She tells of their marriage, obtained after long dealings with the colonial administration, their household set up with almost nothing, and their Sahrawi neighbours, who borrow everything and return nothing. She treats women who refuse to see a male doctor, sets off with José across the desert and discovers a society where girls are married very young and where slavery persists.
Context
The first texts appeared in 1974 in the United Daily News of Taipei, and the book in 1976 from Crown, reprinted four times in six weeks. It mixes travel writing and memoir, and also reports the troubles of 1975 and 1976, the Spanish withdrawal and the Moroccan arrival. More than ten million copies have been sold in Taiwan and China according to the Taiwanese Ministry of Culture, which regards it as a modern classic. Mike Fu translated it into English for Bloomsbury in 2019; the rights have been sold in about fifteen languages, but no French edition has been found.
Who it is for
Short autobiographical stories, full of humour; they can be read in English in Mike Fu's translation.
Prizes and reception
The Asian Review of Books praised the English version; the book is still read in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong.
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