Translating Nouzha Fassi Fihri's La Baroudeuse: A Case Study in ...

Sharif was an instrument of procreation, but he was especially a scapegoat
she used to sharpen her claws, sure as she was to get her revenge one day on those
who had destroyed her dreams.
Not for a moment did she let him forget his subordinate position.
Strengthened by the infatuation he felt for her, she abused his passion, frustrating
him at will, ridiculing his virility, mocking his male attributes. After having
exacerbated his desire and led him to the edge of the precipice, she left him there,
turning a deaf ear to his calls, ignoring his entreaties.
In this way, she escaped the insanity that lived and welled up in her like an
incurable disease. His unconditional complacency fed her cruelty: she developed
his aptitude for subservience.
Sharif was a boy with no fortune, no job and no training of any sort.
Before his marriage, he had just managed to get by, supported by patrons in Fez.
Because he was a descendent of the Prophet, his room and board were
provided without his having to do the least bit of work. But what more miserable
life than that of a man whom other men feed from day to day, a man who doesn't
know, each morning when he wakes up, whether some departure or accident had
put an end to the good will of his benefactors. Also, Fez was swarming with these
penniless sharifs who sponged on others and ended up going back home to their
villages, never having found the hen who lays the golden eggs who would have
saved them from their wandering ways. However, some of them received princely
donations that provided security for their old age or married into rich families. It
was not unusual to see girls of middleclass families marry paupers of noble
descent because, in this profoundly religious society, tying one's name to that of a
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