Isabelle and the Dream of Liberty Jai Soutine

The Destiny of Isabelle Eberhardt nihilism. This was an era of clandestine of the children. Isabelle’s older brother and by Cecily Mackworth meetings, plots and political assassinations. closest friend, Augustin, made the company The Ecco Press Dissidents were exiled to Siberia. During of a group of anarchists and revolutionaries the 1860s, anarchy and nihilism were on in Geneva. This milieu consisted largely of Departures innumerable lips throughout universities dispossessed German, Russian and Eastern by Isabelle Eberhardt and intellectual circles. The couple fell in European immigrants who sought asylum Translated and edited by love and fled Russia together, Nathalie with in Switzerland. The tolerance of the Swiss Karim Hamdy and Laura Rice children in tow and Trophimovsky leaving was limited, and when subversive literature City Lights Books behind a wife and four children. They appeared, denouncing all forms of authority, traveled around Europe rather haphazardly, repression ensued. The Oblivion Seekers finally settling down in a rural house on the It is unclear what lead to Augustin’s by Isabelle Eberhardt outskirts of Geneva. It was at this home, the hasty departure from Villa Nueve: his Translated by Paul Bowles Villa Neuve, that Isabelle Eberhardt was to political activities, entanglements with City Lights Books be born and spend her early years. opium or his troublesome love affair. Whatever the reason, it devastated Isabelle. Isabelle Eberhardt: Her closest friend and confidant, the one Seven Years in the Life of a Woman she loved more than any other, had left in by Isabelle Eberhardt an unfortunate and desperate manner. He Edited by Eglal Errera joined the Legion. For Isabelle, the Villa Actes Sud Nueve had become overwhelmingly lonely and restrictive. Vava was gloomy and embittered, while Isabelle’s mother was “ o one ever lived more from day to day deep in grief at the loss of her son. Isabelle Nthan I, or was more dependent upon anchored her will and forced herself to chance,” wrote Isabelle Eberhardt. Franticly study, paint, and most of all write, while suicidal with grief at her mother’s death, dreaming only of escape. her father offers her a revolver; sleeping In the spring of 1897 Isabelle convinced alone in a remote desert garden under the her mother to leave the dreary Villa Nueve star-filled Saharan sky, she is joined by a and move to Northern Africa with her. native who surprises her with a profound, They moved to the small coastal French intense love that lasts the duration of her colony of Bône, Algeria. Both were quickly life; as she sits in a courtyard, a zealot tries Trophimovsky (or “Vava” as the children disgusted by the supremacist attitudes to cleave her skull in two, the saber hits a called him) was stern, demanding hard in the European quarter and installed clothesline overhead and is deflected. Such physical labor and isolation from the Swiss themselves instead in a small house in was the life of Isabelle Eberhardt. among whom they lived. Isabelle was to be the rue Bugeaud made of whitewashed, the only child Nathalie and Trophimovsky rammed earth with a flat roof, upon ISABELLE WAS BORN IN 1877, THE DAUGHTER would bear together, and he adored her in which they would sleep in the open air. of Alexander Trophimovsky and Nathalie his own very curious way. He took charge The cacophonous Arab quarter better Eberhardt. Trophimovsky was hired to tutor of Isabelle’s education and urged her to suited Isabelle’s tastes, where she would the three children of Nathalie’s then current wear male clothes, cut her hair short and wander the narrow alleyways, following marriage. He was a friend of Bakunin, studied work outdoors alongside her brothers. the unmistakable smell of kif into cellars philosophy, knew Latin and Greek and was Isabelle became a surpassingly skilled and back-room cafés. Here she would lie fluent in Turkish, Arabic, and German. equestrian and demanded to be taught about lazily, drink to excess, smoke kif Nathalie found conversations with this classical Arabic in addition to her other and wrestle the young Spahis, taking one handsome man of Armenian descent to be language lessons. This unusual education home for the night when she so desired. a stimulating distraction from her otherwise enabled Isabelle to later explore Africa on As women were not allowed to wander dreary existence as wife to an officer of entirely different terms than any other unaccompanied through the streets of the Tzar’s Imperial Army. Trophimovsky European of her times. Bône, it was not difficult for Isabelle to revealed to Nathalie his covert rejection Trophimovsky instilled a strong contempt choose her style of dress. She was soon of Christianity and his tendencies towards for the values of the bourgeois society in all to be seen in the long white burnous and

EBERHARDT PRESS REVIEW • 4 muslin turban worn by Algerian men. of supremacy by identifying herself with the savage intoxication of battle, bloody The Europeans were horrified by her the “uncivilized” Algerians. and primitive, of males, body to body, choice of residence, by her dress and even French authorities did not fail to notice wild with anger, blinded by fury, drunk more by her promiscuity and drug use. the threat her presence in North Africa on blood and instinctive cruelty. I knew Though the Europeans were aghast, the posed to their mission civilisatrace. Nor did the coming voluptuousness of streaming blood, of atrocious brutality of action Arabs were more tolerant. Occasionally, they fail to notice the potential asset she triumphing over thought’ (Kobak, young unwed women in North Algeria could be under the right circumstances. Isabelle, 64).... It is not difficult to see would dress as men; this was an accepted When she first arrived in Algeria, several themes that would sketch out custom. Isabelle continued to write and Isabelle took a radical stance against the the boundaries of Eberhardt’s brief life was eventually able to make a living as a colonization of North Africa, going as far — adherence to Islam, siding with the writer and correspondent. Her writings as to attend an anti-colonization march underdog, hatred of the vulgar colonial consisted of observational sketches of local that transformed into an insurrection. mentality, love of anarchy and battle, and life and customs as well as short stories. “I Laura Rice writes of the experience in her an impulse to record it all in writing.” write, in the same way as I love, because it Shortly after her death, Victor is my destiny,” Isabelle states. These early Barrucand heavily edited and published works appear in Departures, a selection her manuscripts. Though Barrucand was of her short stories, reportage and travel an anarchist, he thought it prudent to journals. Departures is translated and exclude passages condemning the French edited by Karim Hamdy and Laura Rice government’s colonial policies as well as and includes an essay by Hamdy and two that which might shock the sensibilities essays by Rice. of his audience. Barrucand, editor of Les In Laura Rice’s essay, “Eberhardt as Si Nouvelles, a daily newspaper of Algiers, Mahomoud: Translation or Transgression,” had previously commissioned Isabelle Rice describes Isabelle’s relationship to her to write a series of articles. The edit has “guise of maleness.” Eberhardt was not been seen by some to be a bitter betrayal attempting to fool people into believing by a man who once showed Isabelle true she was male; rather, she was adopting the friendship. It wasn’t until a collection signifiers that would allow her to engage edited by Eglal Errera, an Egyptian in male-gendered activities. Not only male anthropologist and writer, was released attire but the presentation of herself as a in 1987 that Eberhardt’s work became man allowed her to explore the Northern available in a less censored form. African countryside on horseback, Isabelle’s overall relationship to French frequent the local cafés and generally colonization is clearly one of animosity pursue the life of freedom and autonomy and resistance. However, when it served she desired. Rice goes on to note: her needs, she would play the part of But, given the strict, asymmetrical collaborator. Isabelle wrote a letter to the gender divisions which where signified by editor of La Petite Gironde, in an attempt to the clothes one wore, the work one did, and clear her name of allegations that she rode the places one traveled, it is little wonder from tribe to tribe acting as an agitator, that Eberhardt’s self-presentation – in her essay, “Eberhardt’s Journey from Anarchy pitting the natives against their conquerors. dress, her behavior, and her writing – led to Complicity”: The letter appears in The Oblivion Seekers, to considerable discussion of her motives and a highly recommended collection of short character. “When the students revolted against stories beautifully translated by Paul the French colonial authorities on the Bowels. In the letter she writes: Isabelle gave practical reasons for night of March 14, 1898, Eberhardt dressing as an Arab man; it gave her access was among them. She later wrote: “Wherever I go, whenever possible, I make to a world she would otherwise be excluded ‘My chest was pounding and my head a point of trying to give my native friends from. She did not always “pass” as a man, spinning, deliciously... I saw [the khalifa exact and reasonable ideas, explaining nor did she try to. This did not stop the of the Aissaouas zaouiya] in front of to them that French domination is far French from hurling accusations of fraud me brandishing a truncheon... At every preferable to having the Turks here again, moment it slashed into the surrounding and deceit. It surely was Isabelle’s unusual or for that matter, any foreigners. It is police, cracking skulls and arms raised completely unjust to accuse me of anti- upbringing that gave her the strength and in self defense. [The khalifa] seemed French activities.” confidence to reject the role of the boring, transfigured: He seemed to me to have colonial French woman and live her life ineffable mystical beauty.’ Seeing a friend It was on assignment for Les Nouvelles in the perilous sphere beyond gender. of hers, all bloodied, trying to fend off that Isabelle traveled to Southern Algeria She simultaneously breached the walls of four policemen with a short Moorish to report troop movements. While in gender segregation in French and Islamic dagger, Isabelle picked up a sword and the Kenadsa she slept on floors in the culture while breaking the colonizer’s rule went to help: ‘For the first time, I felt Arab cafés and spent the evenings in

EBERHARDT PRESS REVIEW • 5 the Legion canteen. It was here that she Everywhere we went, among the poor, like slaves until they have repaid their debt. met Colonel Lyautey who was planning ungovernable tribes, we were received with Those who happen to own anything — a a campaign to bring southern Algeria hostility. Only the red burnous of the spahis and small house, a camel, a few sheep — are and eastern Morocco under French rule. the blue burnous of the deira had any effect on allowed to go free, but the caliph will have Despite obvious ideological differences, these half-starved hordes. Si Larbi’s compassion these few possessions seized by the deira in order got the better of him, and we became ashamed to sell them. And our hearts bleed with sorrow the two became fast friends, and in order of what we were doing — he out of duty and when the women, in tears, bring out the last to gain his needed permission to travel in I out of curiosity — as if it were a crime. Yet, goat, the last lamb, upon which they lavish a the area Isabelle accepted a mission from there were moments of genuine enjoyment, final embrace. Lyautey. She was to make contact with the names of those places evoke unforgettable Then, leading our dismal and submissive the Sidi Brahim ould Mohammed, the memories for me. band of chained men, marching on foot head of the Sufi monastery of Kenadsa Leaving Moknine, the road, which was between our horses, we move on. who wielded great political influence separated from the olive groves by bushes of Chralel, called Ichrahil by the educated. over the locals. Lyautey would have no hendi (prickly pears), continued, dusty and A few houses scattered among the olive trees, hope of subjugating the region without straight. The olive trees, tipped with silver which are more luxuriant than anywhere else. this man’s approval. Isabelle was charged along their crests, kept pace with it along its We set up our long, low nomad tent made of with the task of making contact with and length, rising and falling like waves. goatskin. Beneath their brilliant outfits, the convincing him that French occupation A small, plain mosque of dull yellow, similar spahis and the deira are moving about, lighting to the buildings in the South made of tob, a few fires and requesting the diffa, the welcome meal was preferable to the current internecine houses of the same ocher color, ruins, scattered that is, unfortunately, offered to us with great skirmishes that plagued the region. She tombstones — this was the first village in reluctance. was a perfect candidate for such a mission Amira, Sid’Enn’eidja. At dusk, Si Larbi, spahi Ahmed, and I because of her mastery of the language, In front of the mosque was a small courtyard stroll around the village for a while. We come her devotion to Islam and her membership where the weeds had run wild and, toward the across a young woman, alone, who is gathering in the Quadriya. The Quadriya was an back, a sort of vaulted alcove beside which a fig prickly pears. Ahmed approaches her and says, ancient Sufi cult into which Isabelle had tree spread its wide, velvety leaves. Nearby was “Give us some pears, little cat! And take out the been previously initiated. Isabelle traveled the well, deep and cold. We sat down on a mat. needles so we don’t stick ourselves!” by horseback to the monastery and soon To speed things up, Si Larbi asked me to help The Bedouin is very beautiful, very solemn. found herself within its walls. She quickly him. I would be his clerk. She stares at us, hostile and withdrawn, with fell ill after her arrival but managed The spahis and the deira brought the sheik her large dark eyes. “God’s curse on you! You between spells of fever to find audience before us, a tall old man with an eagle’s profile come to take what is ours!” And she angrily and wild eyes, accompanied by the elders of empties her basket of prickly pears at our feet with Sidi Brahim ould Mohammed. Some the tribe and their sons, tall and thin in their and leaves. accounts suggest they spoke of spiritual tattered sefseris. What a strange collection of The red horseman, with a feline smile, matters, and her time at the monastery faces, burned by the sun and wind, with a kind stretches out his arm to grab her, but we stop was spent in prayer, contemplation and of savage dynamism, severe and withdrawn. him. “Isn’t it enough that we arrest the poor writing. There is no evidence to suggest In a whining voice, the sheik gave a series old men, without going after the women?” the that Isabelle represented Lyautey’s cause in of long, complicated explanations. At each caliph says. any way to Sidi Brahim ould Mohammed. moment, cries broke out around him, loud “Oh, Sidi, I wasn’t going to hurt her.” Though she later wrote of the Colonel’s and with the sudden vehemence of this violent And yet these men, dressed in brilliant colors, plans in pseudo-objective manner that race, which moves from dreams and silence to come from this same people, whose misery they was becoming her journalistic norm. turmoil. All of them affirmed their poverty. understand, since they once shared in it. But Isabelle’s story “The Poll Tax” is an excerpt I read their names, one by one, from a list. the spahi is no longer a Bedouin, and, in all “Mohammed ben Mohammed ben Dou’!” honesty, thinks he is greatly superior to his from Seven Years in the Life of a Woman: “An’am!” (Present.) brothers of the tribe because he is a soldier. Isabelle Eberhardt, Letters and Journals, “How much do you owe?” We spend another quarter of an hour talking edited by Eglal Errera and translated “Forty francs.” to an indescribable little Negro boy we ran into by Roberto Bononno. In this selection, “Why haven’t you paid?” on the road, who has us bursting with laughter Eberhardt presents her experiences in “I am rouge-nu, Sidi.” (A Tunisian at the unexpectedness of his repartees and his straightforward manner, detailing the expression meaning fakir, poor.) lively intelligence. horrific brutalities of colonial rule. It is far “Don’t you have a house, or a garden, or Then, after dinner, indolently stretched from the journal passages of insurrection something?” out on our mats, we listen to the young men and revolt. With a gesture of noble resignation, the of Chralel sing. The people of the Sahel are Bedouin raises his hand. excellent musicians, and the shepherds in these “Elhal-hal Allah!” (Fortune is in God’s regions still compose perfectly rhymed songs, The Poll Tax hands.) where words and melody are of equal beauty: I had come with the young caliph of “Stand on the left.” Oh mother, mother, my friend! The world Monastir, Si Labbi Chabet, to collect the In most cases, the man, resigned to his has lost its smile for me ever since they carried overdue poll tax, the medjba, levied on rural fate, steps aside and sits down with his head you to the cemetery.... Grief dwells in my heart Tunisians. Si Larbi never suspected that I was bent; at length, the spahis put him in chains. and tears flow from my eyes like bitter streams. a woman; he called me brother Mahmoud, and Tomorrow, one of the red horsemen will for two months I traveled with him, helping bring them all to Moknine and from there to In this description of disenfranchise- him with the work. the prison at Monastir, where they will work ment, Isabelle maintains a critical eye,

EBERHARDT PRESS REVIEW • 6 but she no longer seems to have the fire away by a torrential flash flood in the town spirituality. Eberhardt’s writing is that of in her belly to join those fighting back. of Ain Sefra, Algeria. Her body was found a vagabond, wanderer spirit that lived a In order make her living as a writer, she crushed under a beam and buried in mud. life outside the conventions of European allowed herself to be backed into the At the time of her death she was toothless, society. She followed the long winding corner of journalism and had not yet destitute, addicted to kif, and suffered white road, alone under a desert sky, full found a way to fight out of it. Luckily, from syphilis and malaria. Although her of naiveté, and brought to us deeply felt she died before seeing the Africa she loved life was characterized by controversy, she prose. As Mackworth wrote, become the Africa Lyautey envisioned. In insisted on living it on her own terms, “Isabelle’s life was based on a fantastic the end, Isabelle proved to hold as many refusing to conform to convention. dream of liberty. At least she had the courage contradictions as the land she fell in love Isabelle’s time was short but not without to live that dream to the full, accepting the with, fought for and perished in. intensity. She overflowed with creativity, misery and degradation that its realization In 1904 Isabelle Eberhardt was washed debauchery, loneliness, mad love and deep entailed and proudly accepting death.” 

Naomi Vanderkindren, Untitled 25, tintype, 2004

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