Spirals of Meaning: Review of Munir Hachemi’s The Mulai

Roseanna Pendlebury Under Review:The Mulai. Munir Hachemi, translated by Julia Sanches. Coach House, July 2026. Munir Hachemi’s The Mulai, translated by Julia Sanches, presents archaeologist Dr. Cordovero’s account of his time among a people called the Mulai, who live in a habitat dome on a partially terraformed exoplanet, alongside chapters from the perspective of a number of Mulai characters. The story explores his time with them, as well as their earlier history and the time after his departure from their planet. As their origins have been lost or forgotten by the wider human community, a significant part of the story is concerned with uncovering how a human colony came to be here, and how it came to develop such a distinctive culture that sets it apart from the archaeologist’s people. The book takes an anthropological tone in the main character’s sections, where he views people primarily as emblematic of their culture. His diary entries note his inability to tell the individual…