Jack Kerouac loved TangiersTangiers multicultural society and large immigrant population has attracted artists like Paul Bowles, William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Tennessee Williams, Brion Gysin and the Rolling Stones, who all lived here or visited at some stage.
Mick Jagger a frequent visitor to TangierWilliam S. Burroughs wrote Naked Lunch in Tangier in the 1950s and the book's locale of Interzone is an allusion to the city.
After Delacroix spoke of the amazing light and colours he found in Tangiers, it became an obligatory stop off for many other artists wanting to experience it for themselves.
Matisse became very fond of the place. He made numerous tours of Tangiers, always staying in the Hotel Villa de France. He found the landscapes and colours exactly as Delacroix had described. If you come here you can even visit the room where he painted the famous view out of the window.
Another well-known artist heavily influenced by Tangiers and Matisse was Californian Richard Diebenkorn. He found the Matisse's rhythmic patterns and colours haunting.
Mohamed ChoukriThe most well known native author from Tangiers is probably Mohamed Choukri. He's widely recognized as one of North Africa's most controversial and popular authors. His autobiography "For Bread Alone" was described by Tennessee Williams as "A true document of human desperation, shattering in its impact."
- Silent Day in Tangiers by Tahar Ben Jelloun.
- Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs - relates some of the author's experiences in Tangier. (See also Naked Lunch (film))
- Desolation Angels by Jack Kerouac relates him living with William Burroughs and other Beat writers in Tangier.
- Interzone by Burroughs - It talks about a fictionalized version of Tangier called Interzone.
- Let It Come Down is Paul Bowles's second novel, first published in 1952
- The Loom of Youth by Alec Waugh - a controversial semi-autobiographical novel relating homosexual experiences of the author in the city of Tangier.
- Two Tickets to Tangier by Francis Van Wyck Mason, an American novelist and historian
- Modesty Blaise; a fictional character in a comic strip of the same name and a series of books created by Peter O'Donnell - In 1945 a nameless girl escaped from a displaced person (DP) camp in Karylos, Greece. She took control of a criminal gang in Tangier and expanded it to international status as "The Network". After dissolving The Network and moving to England she maintained a house on a hillside above Tangier and many scenes in the books and comic strips are located here.
- Carpenter's World Travels: From Tangier to Tripoli - a Frank G. Carpenter travel guide (1927)
- The Thief's Journal by Jean Genet - Includes the protagonist's experiments in negative morality in Tangier (1949)
- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
- The Crossroads of the Medterranean by Henrik de Leeuw- chronicles the author's journey through Morocco and Tunisia in the early 1950's and includes many pages describing Tangier, notably the Petit Socco as a food market with mountain dwellers (the jebli) selling their produce and 'the street of male harlots', where they ply 'their shameful trade'.
- The Gold Bug Variations by Richard Powers
- The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain includes a mixed bag of comments on his visit to Tangier, ending with: "I would seriously recommend to the Government of the United States that when a man commits a crime so heinous that the law provides no adequate punishment for it, they make him Consul-General to Tangier."
- Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell mentions that Tangier is one of the four corners (borders) of the disputed area in the war between the three superstates. (Part 2, Chapter 9)
During the 1940's and 1950's Tangiers was an international zone. It was a playground for all kinds of eccentric types - artists, writers, millionaires, as well as more sinister crooks, secret agents and gamblers.
La Tangerina Hotel roof terrace overlooking the straits of Gibraltar and the Medina
Thanks to costasur for the info
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