The Last Patriarch

The Last Patriarch tells the story of Mimoun. Born in Morocco, from the first 'thwhap' that he receives from his father as a baby, he is singled out as a problematic child. As he grows up, he becomes increasingly rebellious and violent and one day he decides to journey to Catalonia to experience a bit of Western life and culture. Having gained greater freedom in Barcelona, he gets himself into trouble and gets exported back to Morocco. Although he marries a Moroccan wife, he leaves her behind and moves back to Catalonia to lead a life of sex and debauchery.

The story is told by Mimoun’s daughter who narrates her father’s antics and describes her family’s decision to join him in Catalonia. She highlights the double standards that her father sets by continuing a relationship with a Catalan divorcee, while expecting her mother to stay at home and clean and cook, as is expected in Moroccan culture. She also draws attention to her own immigration experience, her efforts to assimilate and adjust to Catalan culture and the challenges posed by her father who beats her for speaking to boys.

The violence and abuse inherent in this novel at times makes it a difficult read. However, it is not hard to see why it won the prestigious Ramon Llull Prize for Catalan Literature in 2008.  El Hachmi is careful to intimate that Mimoun’s behaviour is not typical of Moroccan men, but rather a gross exaggeration of the worst kind of patriarch that is eventually and triumphantly overcome.