Burning Witnesses in Limbo: Moroccan Diasporic Literature

This article proposes a comparative reading of two works by Moroccan writers that explore migration and expands upon Ato Quayson and Yoon Sun Lee’s research on diasporic cultural production. Ruth Knafo Setton’s The Road to Fez (2001) and Laila Lalami’s Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits (2005) raise questions of genre. Knafo Setton employs elements of the Gothic while Lalami utilizes travel writing to delve into Moroccan migrant and diasporic experiences. A contrapuntal examination of their texts from a genre-oriented perspective highlights the interplay between the author, text, and reader, shedding light on Moroccan literature in English and the distinct characteristics of diasporic writing and reading.