The Tongue of Adam - Couverture souple

Reading Kilito for me has always been a kind of adventure. We normally speak of writing as an adventure, but Kilito dares his reader to travel with him, on a quest to override the boundaries between reality and fiction, between literary criticism and storytelling.--Elias Khoury

One would be hard-pressed to find a Moroccan writer who is more respected by his peers and more appreciated by his readers than Abdelfattah Kilito.--Laila Lalami

Borges s afterglow falls on Kilito s pages, and he shares the Argentinian s relish for puzzles, mazes, and riddling forms, as well as a love of pulp on one hand and the rare and raffine on the other, al-Jahiz s philosophy of discretion alongside Tintin, Sufi metaphysical lyrics and the Queen of the Serpents spells. Kilito is a mandarin who likes comic books. --Marina Warner

Kilito treats his history with respect (especially considering the implications and controversial nature of the questions) and, with his blend of erudition and whimsy, comparisons to Borges are inevitable. Yet his commentary on the age-old debate, though minimal and mostly contained in an afterword, reveals his personal connection to the subject as a writer in both French and Arabic, making the work both poignant and relevant for contemporary readers. Fans of Kilito s work should be pleased here, and those who have never read him should be intrigued this introduction. --Publishers Weekly

Abdelfattah Kilito was born in Rabat, Morocco, in 1945. He has received the Great Moroccan Award (1989), the French Academy Award (1996), and the Sultan Al Owais Prize for Criticism and Literature Studies (2006).

A critic, translator, and scholar, Robyn Creswell is currently the poetry editor for the Paris Review and assistant professor of comparative literature at Yale.

Marina Warner is a British novelist, short story writer, and historian.