A Distant Episode (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Paul Bowles
- First Published: 1947
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: The late 1930's
- Setting: North Africa
- Principal Characters: The Professor, The bus driver, The waiter, The Reguibat
- Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction
- Subjects: Culture, Africa or Africans, Traveling or travelers, Linguistics or linguists, Fear, Kidnapping, Hallucinations or illusions, Adventure
- Locales: Africa
The Story
The story begins with a description of the Professor (who is not named) being transported by bus to Ain Tadouirt, a town in eastern Morocco. The Professor had spent three days in the town ten years previously, during which time he had established a friendship with a café keeper named Hassan Ramani. The driver asks the Professor if he is a geologist, and the Professor tells him that he is a linguist “making a survey of variations on Moghrebi” dialects. The Moghrebi are a people who live in a region in Africa north of the Sahara.
When the Professor arrives...
[The entire page is 1424 words long]
