The Professor
A linguist whose confidence in language and expertise is destroyed in the final story.
To renew an old connection and gather linguistic knowledge while proving that education lets him move safely through an unfamiliar region.
The book
At a glance
- A Distant Episode
- The Delicate Prey and Other Stories
- Mid-twentieth century
Who they are in the book
Spoiler-freeThe unnamed European Professor returns to a North African settlement hoping to visit Hassan Ramani and pursue his interest in local speech.
Learning that Hassan is dead does not stop him. His education and past experience make him believe he can judge the café worker and the trip toward the desert.
Capture turns confidence against him. Loss of his tongue destroys his defining skill, and forced costume and performance strip away the identity that once protected him.
How the book draws them
- Place in the storyHe enters as a professional observer certain that language makes the unfamiliar legible.
- How power worksHis status has meaning in Europe but cannot guarantee safety in the desert.
- What Bowles showsThe attack on speech makes his profession physically vulnerable.
- What remains uncertainThe ending never shows whether any fragment of his former self remains recoverable.
After captors cut out his tongue and force him to perform, the Professor escapes. A French soldier sees but does not rescue him, and he disappears into the desert psychologically destroyed.
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