Literature
How a Life in Exile Reshapes the Generations That Follow
Novelist Hannah Lillith Assadi joins Faisal Al Yafai on the podcast to discuss inherited memory, the century of Arab exile and her new novel, "Paradiso 17.”
Stranger Than Fiction
A genre of speculative fiction referred to as FICINT, a portmanteau of “fiction” and “intelligence,” is gaining traction in the world of military intelligence. Yet despite its claims to realism, its use of emotion is at the heart of its ability to influence the agenda.
The Remarkable Overlaps in the Lives of Two Poets: One Chronicled the Nakba, the Other the Holocaust
Mahmoud Darwish and Avrom Sutzkever wrote sophisticated, modernist lyrical and prose poetry about the great 20th-century traumas of their peoples, the Nakba and the Holocaust, which they respectively survived. Their lives and the themes they explored in their poetry overlapped in extraordinary ways.
Recovering the Bawdy Humor of Classical Arabic Literature
While those who advocate censorship tend to invoke the past, classical Arabic literature often mirrors today’s informality and humor. Stories and anecdotes laced with profanity were told in the same candid manner in which they were composed, without any hesitation or disgust.
Al-Mutanabbi’s Status as the ‘Shakespeare of the Arabs’ Was Always Controversial
Though some today ask whether al-Mutanabbi, long hailed as the greatest Arab poet, truly deserves the title, they ignore the fact that his reputation was always in dispute.
Against Tyranny: Two Stories Told in Pictures Warn Us To Fight On
Two recent graphic novels reveal the realities of daily life in Iran and Cuba, illustrating the common traits of authoritarian regimes. Marjane Satrapi’s “Woman, Life, Freedom” and Edel Rodriguez’s “Worm: A Cuban American Odyssey” lay out the political stakes and call on readers to defend global democracy.
How Two 19th-Century Books Paved the Way for Modernism
The common concerns of two 1855 works, Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass” and Shidyaq’s “Leg Over Leg” — in particular, language, equality, freedom, paradox and multiplicity — illustrate the international nature of how the 19th century wrestled with modernity.