El Muniria Hotel, Tangier, Morocco

In the mid-20th century, Tangier was a refuge for hippies, rock musicians, and Beat writers—largely thanks to accessible drugs and thriving prostitution. They came for inspiration, enjoyed the sunshine, and embodied the Moroccan dream. However, the kingdom’s reputation also managed to attract other artists and literary figures.

Members of the literary movement, remembered for their influence on American culture and politics in the post-World War II era, fell in love with Morocco, and especially Tangier. In the mid-1940s and 1950s, Paul Bowles, Peter Orlovsky, Irwin Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs stayed in the northern city, writing, translating, and enjoying what Tangier had to offer.

The city of Tangier was best known to Americans thanks to Paul Frederic Bowles, an American expatriate composer, writer, and translator. He first visited Tangier in 1931, where he was immediately captivated. In 1947, Bowles settled in the coastal city with his wife Jane, where he created numerous musical scores, novels, travel stories, and dozens of translations of Moroccan storytellers’ tales.

The first to visit the city was William Burroughs, an American writer and artist who moved to Tangier and stayed in a rented room, inspired by his compatriot.

In November 1954, he returned to Tangier, escaping a tragic event that changed his life: “In 1951, a tragedy occurred, and Burroughs accidentally shot his wife in Mexico while they were playing a drunken game at a party,” where he lived a hippie lifestyle and spent four years working on The Naked Lunch.

He stayed in the cheap Villa Muniria hotel on Magellan Street. Today, this building houses the El Muniria hotel, whose walls display portraits of the famous guest.

Inspired by his colleague, the American novelist and poet Jack Kerouac followed this trend. According to a report provided by the Paul Bowles organization website, “In 1957, Jack Kerouac arrived in Tangier to visit Burroughs and help him type various manuscripts, but stayed there for only one month.”

Writers at leisure... Peter Orlovsky, on the left, Jack Kerouac, and William S. Burroughs (fully dressed) on a beach in Tangier, Morocco, in 1957. Photo: Allen Ginsberg/Corbis

Then the city was visited by Peter Orlovsky, an American poet and actor, and his companion Irwin Allen Ginsberg, an American poet, philosopher, and writer. In the book by Peter Orlovsky and Bill Morgan, Peter Orlovsky, Life in Words: Intimate Chronicles of a Beat Writer (Paradigm Publishing, 2014), a Beat Generation participant describes his trip to Morocco. “On Friday, March 22, 1957, Peter and Allen arrived in Tangier, where William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac met them at the dock,” the book said. “By the time they arrived, Kerouac had already been there for over a month, working on Burroughs’ manuscripts that would eventually become The Naked Lunch,” the poet explained, adding that: “Jack was eager to leave for France, and Allen and Peter decided to move into his hotel room at Villa Muniria as soon as he left.”

From his small room at Villa Muniria, Peter Orlovsky wrote long and detailed letters to his mother, friends, and family members. In his letters, he described the city and its people. By June, Peter and his partner left the city, leaving Burroughs behind.

In 1957, Burroughs was visited by Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac to help edit and retype the novel. Around the same time, at one of the art exhibitions in Tangier, William met artist Brian Gysin, who later suggested the idea of the cut-up method in creating literary text.

https://en.yabiladi.com/articles/details/60415/history-when-american-intellectuals-chose.html

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/nov/23/tangier-william-burroughs-naked-lunch

Writers at leisure... Peter Orlovsky, on the left, Jack Kerouac, and William S. Burroughs (fully dressed) on a beach in Tangier, Morocco, in 1957. Photo: Allen Ginsberg/Corbis