Eleanor Hoffmann (1895–1990)
Author of Mischief in Fez
About the Author
Works by Eleanor Hoffmann
Summer at Horseshoe Ranch 1 copy
Flukten fra Sallé 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1895-12-21
- Date of death
- 1990-12-20
- Gender
- female
- Education
- Radcliffe College (BA, 1917)
- Occupations
- travel writer
children's book author
teacher
rug merchant
novelist
landscape designer - Short biography
- Eleanor Hoffmann was born in Belmont, Massachusetts, the daughter of Ralph and Gertrude Wesselhoeft Hoffmann. After attending boarding school in Germany, she graduated from Radcliffe College in 1917 with an bachelor's degree in German literature and history. She worked in farming in Vermont, as a landscape designer in North Carolina, and taught biology and Latin at Hampton Institute in Virginia, before going to Paris to study art in 1924. She spent much of the rest of her life traveling and writing about Europe, the Caribbean, Africa, and in particular Morocco, where she became a merchant of Moroccan rugs and artwork to help finance her travels. She was the author of numerous children's stories and 17 books, notably Mischief in Fez (1941), as well as many adult travel and culture articles and books.
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Belmont, Massachusetts, USA
- Places of residence
- Paris, France
- Place of death
- Santa Barbara, California, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
This book recently came up in conversation as something I remembered very fondly from my childhood. I dug it out and re read it, and what luck! I still loved it!
Mousa, son of Muhammed Ali, the most important judge in the city of Fez is very excited when his widowed father marries Fatma Bent Nor, a great beauty from Meknes-of-the-Olives. But Fatma refuses to observe the good luck customs of the house saying "My Meknes is not a city of old fashioned superstitions."
Soon all manner of troubles show more start to come upon the household, a plague of scorpions, the fountain dries up, things start to go missing. Worst of all Mousa is accused of causing all the trouble! Mousa's African nurse Loualou advises him to go to the marketplace and ask the toubib how to seek the help of the Hidden Ones Who Do No Mischief. Soon Mousa is deep in the hidden world of djinns and afrits, working with a magical fennec fox to set things right again in the household of his father.
Its a short book, less than 100 pages, but full of color and excitement and a wonderful flavor of Morocco. Remarkably, given that it was first published in 1943 it is pretty much entirely free of condescension toward the eastern culture in which it is set. That was the one thing I was afraid of discovering on a reread, but whew. This reads like an affectionate tribute to the storytelling traditions of Muslim culture from someone who knew Morocco well.
I don't know much about this author and it looks like her work is out of print, but this one was certainly a pleasure for me - when I first read it thirty years ago, and again today. show less
Mousa, son of Muhammed Ali, the most important judge in the city of Fez is very excited when his widowed father marries Fatma Bent Nor, a great beauty from Meknes-of-the-Olives. But Fatma refuses to observe the good luck customs of the house saying "My Meknes is not a city of old fashioned superstitions."
Soon all manner of troubles show more start to come upon the household, a plague of scorpions, the fountain dries up, things start to go missing. Worst of all Mousa is accused of causing all the trouble! Mousa's African nurse Loualou advises him to go to the marketplace and ask the toubib how to seek the help of the Hidden Ones Who Do No Mischief. Soon Mousa is deep in the hidden world of djinns and afrits, working with a magical fennec fox to set things right again in the household of his father.
Its a short book, less than 100 pages, but full of color and excitement and a wonderful flavor of Morocco. Remarkably, given that it was first published in 1943 it is pretty much entirely free of condescension toward the eastern culture in which it is set. That was the one thing I was afraid of discovering on a reread, but whew. This reads like an affectionate tribute to the storytelling traditions of Muslim culture from someone who knew Morocco well.
I don't know much about this author and it looks like her work is out of print, but this one was certainly a pleasure for me - when I first read it thirty years ago, and again today. show less
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- Works
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- Also by
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- Members
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- Popularity
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- Rating
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