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

womanhood."
"My gender limits me. I am a prisoner inside my female body and
"So many men are beneath you!"
"But they are our masters by nature's decree."
"You are . . . invincible!"
Again, she laughed, modestly covering her mouth with a charming,
youthful gesture.
"I must surely be a rare survivor of that race of women who lived free or
died trying to change the ancient order."
Then, after a moment of silence she added, "To balance our relationship,
Sharif and I would have had to exchange egos, wouldn't we?"
Moulay Ali nodded, overcome by his cousin's undiminished verve.
"Outrageous Lalla Kenza," he mused, "you will always astonish me.
Philosophizing about the ego at such a time. You keep coming back to that
because you were denied the right to be yourself."
In fact, the thought that she had been so wrong about her husband
tormented her. Yet, in her memory, during their whole shared life, he had been
helpless. He often cried when she pushed him away, exasperated with his
dullness. And when she grandly called him back, he came running, gushing a
string of compliments. Even then, careful to reverse their roles to the end, she felt
him flaccid on top of her, while under him she shivered with repressed disgust.
She became mean, trying to embarrass him, but she only read distressing
submission on his self-satisfied face.
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