Dystopian Refuge
For the New York Times, Alexandra Alter writes about the Middle Eastern writers finding refuge from the post-Arab Spring disillusionment and chaos in dystopian fiction, speaking with writers like Basma Abdel…
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middle east
40 posts
American Ambiguity
My racial awareness, perhaps even my awareness of myself as a person, self-consciousness, is a three-pronged paradox of shame, pride, and indifference.
Reshaping Humanities in the Middle East
Though every time I hear it, I can’t help but cringe a little. It reeks of insularity. Have you read what’s coming out of the Arab world right now? I…
The Middle East in Writing
Increasingly, a writer needs an access point, a micro-focus, a close-up lens—even a gimmick: one small story through which larger historical truths can be elucidated anew. For the Los Angeles…
Poetry As Propaganda
Oxford academic Elisabeth Kendall has found that poetry may be a major recruitment tool for militant jihadis in the Middle East. Although poetry is often sidelined in Western cultures, it is…
Saudi Arabia to Execute Poet
Saudi Arabia, an American ally, sentenced a poet to death for renouncing Islam, although it may have been retribution for posting online a video of police lashing a man in…
The Sunday Rumpus Essay: A Coney Island of the Mind
My money is no good here. I may wear the clothes or speak the language, but something in my manner always betrays me as foreign. Despite my chosen title, I do not belong in Brooklynstan.
Fresh Comics #1: An Iranian Metamorphosis
The question that lingers even after reading the book is about the use of symbolism in the cartoon and who has the final say—the creator or the readers?
Another Story to Guide You
Over at the New Yorker, Etgar Keret and Sayed Kashua continue their conversation: I believe that this despair is temporary, and that even though there are quite a few political elements…
A Story to See You Through
Etgar Keret and Sasha Kayua have had a pretty busy year: after speaking out against Israeli intolerance, and getting snubbed on every front, the pair turned to penning their viewpoints…