The Rule of Barbarism

Finally available in English, Le Règne de la barbarie by Abdellatif Laâbi is one of the most daring poetic visions of the second half of the twentieth century. First published in 1976 when Laabi was serving an eight-year prison sentence (1972-1980) for ‘crimes of opinion’ against the Moroccan State, The Rule of Barbarism is a devastating flight through consciousness, acquainting the reader with the trials of a society caught between a colonial past and the tragic realities of a brutal dictatorship. Analysing the presence of ‘barbarism’ inherent in all of us, and yet deepening our capacity for compassion despite the allure of revenge, this stunning debut from a writer on the threshold of a groundbreaking career can be read as an epic of love, empathy, anger and despair—and is as resonant today as when composed nearly fifty years ago.…Deftly rendered into English by André Naffis-Sahely… these poems reward repeated readings. —World Literature TodayPoet, novelist, playwright, translator, and political activist, Abdellatif Laâbi was born in Fez, Morocco in 1942. He was also the founder of Souffles, an important literary review that was banned in Morocco in 1972. Laâbi received the Prix Robert Ganzo de Poésie in 2008, the Prix Goncourt de la Poésie for his Oeuvres complètes in 2009, and the Académie Française's Grand Prix de la Francophonie in 2011. Also available in English are his debut collection of poetry The Rule of Barbarism, the memoir Rue de Retour, and The World's Embrace: Selected Poems.

André Naffis-Sahely's translations include Laâbi's The Rule of Barbarism (Pirogue Poets Series), and Rachid Boujedra's The Barbary Figs and The Funerals (Arabia Books). His translation of Émile Zola's L'argent is forthcoming from Penguin Classics. He lives in London.monstrosities monstrosities
in the severity of the days of retribution
I see nothing but killers
this brotherhood of killers
that bends the bow
the target hurled
into the crime
hail barbarity of great famines
hail tribal flints
hail jungle of crudeness