The Idea of Identity

Amin Maalouf’s Leo Africanus

Week 1 – March 5, 2013

Ellen Walpole

The Idea of Identity

            As we talked about in class today, the preface of the novel is used as a tool for foreshadowing the identity of the main character, Hasan. However, I think the larger theme that can also be seen in the preface is the fact that the author, Amin Maalouf, also fails to have a one specific identity; there is no one category that he can be put under. As was seen in the videos, Maalouf was born in Lebanon but can speak French and Arabic fluently and is also considered a European. Instead of finding this strange, I think it is amazing to have so many different cultural backgrounds.

            Maalouf said he feels European when there are problems in Europe, and Lebanese when there are issues in Lebanon, and when I heard that it took me awhile to actually process that he can feel like he belongs to both places. I am assuming he surpasses ideas of Orientalism because he is able to completely relate to so many different cultures. The discourse that we often find ourselves would be much easier for him to avoid.

        While Leo Africanus did actually exist, I believe that Maalouf’s portrayal of him was written from some personal experiences. The real man Africanus was also a writer and traveled extensively, much like the fictional writer Maalouf. To “come from no country, from no city, no tribe” (Maalouf 1) establishes a lot of gray area about where Hasan should feel allegiance to.

The idea of global citizenship or a “world citizen,” also discussed in class, is interesting in that while it would be ideal to feel like you belonged to so many places, where would you establish your “home?” Which in turn raises the question on what the idea of “home” really is; is a country your home? Or the town you grew up in? I don’t believe that “home” can be an address and the way Maalouf wrote that Hasan was “…the son of the road, [his] country is the caravan, [his] life the most unexpected of voyages” (Maalouf 1), and that “[he] belong[s] only to God and to the earth, and it is to them that [he] will one day soon return” (Maalouf 1).

            Clearly this leads the reader to believe that it doesn’t matter where you are from or where you call home, it is only your relationship with God that truly matters. I do find this somewhat ironic, though, because Maalouf’s religion is not clear; but, I suppose it is written from Hasan’s point of view.