Le marcheur de la mémoire*

The memory walker

This article depicts the quest of identity of a Christian son in his Jewish father’s country, beyond all religious and social constraints and beyond all the risks of not finding what is to be found: the intimate resorts of parenthood. Forgetting his roots or assuming the role of the son whose Jewish identity is explained as part of his adoptive Christian father – this is the question Fottorino tries to answer in his autobiographical novel « Le marcheur de Fès » [The Traveler of Fes]. As a traveler from France to Morocco, both through his own conscience and towards an ancient city which hides not only a great history written in blood and sacrifice, but also greatness and patience, the hero is searching for the image of his father, his lost roots and memories.

Keynotes: identity, Moroccan Jews, Arabic World, taboo, autobiography