The Cell and the Ward: Imprisonment, Servitude and Nationalist Identity in Two Novels by Abdalkarīm Ghallāb

This article addresses issues of nationalist activity against the French protectorate by the central characters in two novels by Moroccan editor and author Abdalkarīm Ghallāb: Dafannā al-Māī (1966) and al-Muallim Alī (1971). Both central characters in these two very similar novels are sent to prison for their nationalist activity; their time in prison encourages them to bond with other nationalists and to become more effective activists rather than discouraging them from further activity. In Dafannā al-Māī, the central characterʹs freedom to engage in nationalist activity is dependent upon the labour of household servants who are themselves imprisoned in his family home. These women are effectively voiceless, not only in the text of the novel itself but also in the most comprehensive scholarly criticism of the work. Hamid Lahmadaniʹs detailed analysis of the text completely erases the servants in order to foreground the central characterʹs development. Al-Muallim Alī rewrites essentially the same story, but by making its protagonist a working-class hero, it creates a more believable transition from worker to activist without making this dependent on mute, imprisoned women.