JUAN GOYTISOLO MAKBARA a comic, smiling parody that mirrors in reverse the agitation, the frenzy, the commotion of operation on the New York Stock Exchange during its frequent gales of euphoric optimism or gusts of panic, when the Dow Jones average suddenly shoots upward or suddenly tumbles amid the frantic shouts of customers, the dizzying shifts in the figures posted on the big board, the frantic clatter of the stock tickers the rapid-fire gibberish of the professional traders. In Arabic, the word Makbara' refers to those parts of North African cemeteries where young couples go to get away from their elders and hang out. A celebration of amour fou, Makbara reveals Goytisolo's deep love for Arab culture seen as sensuous and lewd in contrast to the drab sterility of the West. In a series of scenes pastiches and traveling shots, Goytisolo exposes cultural, sexual and political oppression. The author's message, delivered in polyphonic style, is of liberation through sex which as he says 'is above all freedom'.

ISBN: 9781852422660