Political Malaise and the New Arabic Noir

Morocco's experience of political transition and liberalization in the mid-1990s spawned new types of fiction in the country. The most important of these from a political standpoint was the Arabic police novel, the first of its kind in the Middle East or North Africa. At first, this genre expressed optimism and enthusiasm for a new era in Morocco, presenting a highly sympathetic detective who symbolized respect for the rule of law and human rights. By 2002, however, exuberance for the new era turned to despair, as the old forms of brutality and corruption returned. This article examines how a recent Arabic police novel, Abdelilah Hamdouchi's Bled Dry, breaks with the previous novels in the genre by adopting a hard-boiled noir style to express the profound sense of hopelessness and disillusionment felt across the country. In particular, this article traces how the novel boldly depicts graphic prostitution, filthy shantytowns, radical Islam, and corrupt cops, linking the desperation of current-day Casablanca to the exploitation and malaise of the new era.