Space as an ‘Imaginative Geography’ in Paul Bowles’ Let It Come Down

Abstract

Abstract: Within the framework of orientalist discourse, this paper examines the politics of spatial construction of Morocco in Paul Bowles’ Let It Come Down. It uncovers how such construction, as a marker of difference, is designed to exoticize and primitivize the Moroccan ‘Other’. Bowles’ travel account is worthy of study by virtue of circulating orientalist stereotypes about Morocco. This paper adopts the postcolonial theory. After the analysis of the opted account, it was found that Bowles contributed to the construction of the Moroccan landscape as an ‘imaginative geography’. Morocco is represented as a ‘strange’, ‘mysterious’, and ‘esoteric’ space; it’s representationally constructed in the mode Edward Said referred to as ‘Orientalism’. The imaginative geography of Morocco as ‘exotic,’ ‘dangerous,’ and ‘dirty’ are only tools used by the writer to legitimize the colonial occupation. Bowles’ Let It Come Down remains an order of discourse which aims to ‘orientalize’ Morocco.