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Endless Fall: A Little Chronicle
In this poignant account of a classmate’s suicide, the acclaimed Moroccan author gives both a biting critique of small-town bigotry in the 1960s and a moving tribute to the fleeting beauty of adolescence.In Settat in the 1960s, when it was still a tiny village, a young man leapt to his death in front of his stunned class and their teacher, left holding a brief, devastating suicide note. Among the students was Mohamed Leftah. Haunted by the uncommon grace of that desperate act, and the tragic image of his body lying in the courtyard, Leftah penned this chronicle of life at the time, marked by repressed desire and shame.A fiery yet thoughtful meditation on taboo acts—homosexuality, adultery, suicide—and the hypocrisy and cruelty often found in those who judge them, Endless Fall also offers a fascinating window into the mind of the seminal writer.
80 pages, Paperback
Published June 18, 2024
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48 people want to read
About the author
Mohamed Leftah
21Ìýbooks11ÌýfollowersNé à Settat, au Maroc, en 1946, il fait ses études à Casablanca, puis s’oriente vers une carrière scientifique. Il atterrit à Paris dans une école d’ingénieurs en travaux publics. En 1968, au milieu des évènements qui secouent la capitale, il écrit des poèmesâ€� et s’enivre. En 1972, il revient au Maroc, se forme à l’informatique, devient informaticien puis journaliste littéraire au Matin du Sahara et au Temps du Maroc. À partir des années 90, il écrit dans la fièvre. En 1992, après la parution de Demoiselles de Numidie aux Éditions de l’Aube, il renonce à éditer ses textes jusqu’Ã� ce que Salim Jay l’introduise auprès des Éditions de la Différence, qui éditera l’ensemble - considérable - de son Å“uvre inédite. Mohamed Leftah est mort au Caire, où il résidait depuis 2000, le 20 juillet 2008.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 15, 2024
A short work, but its beautiful language and imagery vividly bring to life the story behind the "endless fall"--the suicide of a young man.
August 11, 2024
Review in exchange for an Advanced Readers' Copy. Trigger warnings: suicide, violence, sex
I must've read this slim volume at least five times, and I know there are connections that I still am missing. It is both a meditation upon a specific person and a commentary on the fragility of memory.
Lefta opens by asking the reader to consider the drama's sequences based on the word's liturgical meaning: a rhythmic song extending the Alleuia. (page 22) Each section then becomes a stanza with its own focus. First are the reactions from the faculty. One despairs whereas another uses his calligraphic talent to "...transcribe the Koranic verses that specify the fate promised to those who have ended their days by throwing themselves into the abyss," (page 29) because he "...couldn't pass up such a rare occasion to dispay it [handwriting] for everyone's admiring gaze." (page 30)
Then Leftah imagines Khalid's first sexual encounters with a young man dressed as a woman followed by a the neighbor's smelly cleaning girl. The first happens in a filthy bathroom whereas the second is on a tomb in a cemetary during the day. One is ectasy and the other is followed by amazement at the lack of divine punishment.
These stanzas are followed by an admission by Leftah that he's lost pages, and isn't sure whether to note it, recreate them, or accept such lacunae. Apparently, he decides on the latter because the next several stanzas depict Khalid's growing relationship with Nabil and their interactions on the soccer field. This part is very sweet and worth the forty pages of build-up, which I think is why Lefta nearly closes with it. He then describes coming back to the manuscript a decade after its drafting to discover more missing pages whose contents he cannot recollect before closing with a prayer for his former classmate.
Highly recommended for book groups where people are unlikely to read. This volume is under 60 pages, so it can be read it one sitting or in bits. The longest stanza is four pages, and many are significantly less than a page. Very approachable and definitely a conversation-starter!
I must've read this slim volume at least five times, and I know there are connections that I still am missing. It is both a meditation upon a specific person and a commentary on the fragility of memory.
Lefta opens by asking the reader to consider the drama's sequences based on the word's liturgical meaning: a rhythmic song extending the Alleuia. (page 22) Each section then becomes a stanza with its own focus. First are the reactions from the faculty. One despairs whereas another uses his calligraphic talent to "...transcribe the Koranic verses that specify the fate promised to those who have ended their days by throwing themselves into the abyss," (page 29) because he "...couldn't pass up such a rare occasion to dispay it [handwriting] for everyone's admiring gaze." (page 30)
Then Leftah imagines Khalid's first sexual encounters with a young man dressed as a woman followed by a the neighbor's smelly cleaning girl. The first happens in a filthy bathroom whereas the second is on a tomb in a cemetary during the day. One is ectasy and the other is followed by amazement at the lack of divine punishment.
These stanzas are followed by an admission by Leftah that he's lost pages, and isn't sure whether to note it, recreate them, or accept such lacunae. Apparently, he decides on the latter because the next several stanzas depict Khalid's growing relationship with Nabil and their interactions on the soccer field. This part is very sweet and worth the forty pages of build-up, which I think is why Lefta nearly closes with it. He then describes coming back to the manuscript a decade after its drafting to discover more missing pages whose contents he cannot recollect before closing with a prayer for his former classmate.
Highly recommended for book groups where people are unlikely to read. This volume is under 60 pages, so it can be read it one sitting or in bits. The longest stanza is four pages, and many are significantly less than a page. Very approachable and definitely a conversation-starter!
February 2, 2024
1.5 rounded up to 2 because I feel kinda bad about it.
This read a lot like poetry sometimes. Damn near every sentence was a metaphor. It felt like a very disrespectful way to write about a suicide. I finished it solely because it's only 55 pages.
CW: suicide, vomit, blood, feces, drowning, seizures
This read a lot like poetry sometimes. Damn near every sentence was a metaphor. It felt like a very disrespectful way to write about a suicide. I finished it solely because it's only 55 pages.
CW: suicide, vomit, blood, feces, drowning, seizures
December 13, 2024
“But yes, I have wept too much! Dawns are upsetting, every moon is atrocious, every sun is bitter: Acrid love has inflated me with an intoxicating stupor. Oh, let my keel bust! Oh, let me go to sea!�
Mohamed Leftah has written a tribute to the trauma of his adolescence. Making sense of a friend gone much too soon. The reader can tell by the reiteration of this event that Mr. Leftah has been haunted by this scene for decades. Pain writes itself into poetry. Poetry is alive within Khalid’s memory.
Mohamed Leftah has written a tribute to the trauma of his adolescence. Making sense of a friend gone much too soon. The reader can tell by the reiteration of this event that Mr. Leftah has been haunted by this scene for decades. Pain writes itself into poetry. Poetry is alive within Khalid’s memory.
July 8, 2024
A beautiful book and the translation is so good.
August 21, 2024
Little hard to follow,I read it twice to see if I got it the second go around.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
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