RANDA JARRAR

[Via Maud] The Literary Saloon reports on PEN’s Faith and Reason: Writers Speak deal yesterday. All the writers invited spoke and behaved exactly the way you’d expect them to: Rushdie declined to praise himself; Zadie Smith exuded a false modesty and said she was not qualified to do something; Elias Khoury tried to show he was a moral man by (very publicly) declining a government-sponsored event; and Jeanette Winterson

took center-stage — literally, not taking a stand behind one of the two lecterns on either side of the stage that the other readers (save wheelchair-bound Achebe) had used. No notes, no reading, just a few relevant stories from her life — an expert performance, and captivating (and relevant) stuff. She told of being adopted into a strict religious household, where there were only 6 books (the Bible and five books on the Bible) and where, when her mother read her Jane Eyre, it came to quite a different ending. Her mother was a smart woman, she acknowledged, and among the basic truths she taught her was: the trouble with books is you never know what’s in them until it’s too late. And that and other experiences taught Winterson that the one way no one can take a text away from you is by memorizing it.

Brilliant. I wish I could have gone.

I can’t wait to read this.

The Yacoubian Buildings Movie debuts at the Tribeca Film Fest. The Daily Star has a review of it here. From the TFF page:

The most expensive Egyptian film ever made, The Yacoubian Building is a sprawling, star-studded epic that spans all the social classes populating contemporary Cairo. In three fast-moving hours, it dramatizes topical issues like adultery, political corruption, Islamist terrorism, and the hitherto taboo subject of homosexuality. First-time director Marwan Hamed crafts a gripping drama out of Alaa Al Aswani’s novel, an Arabic-language bestseller already in its 12th printing. The famous Yacoubian Building was constructed in downtown Cairo in 1937 to house the city’s upper crust. Today the tenants of its spacious apartments are a bit down-in-the-dumps, while its rooftop laundry rooms have been converted into homes for the poor.

And from the Daily Star’s review:

According to Egypt’s most celebrated writer, Naguib Mahfouz, “You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.”… After stumbling out of a bar onto the empty, shadow-filled streets of Downtown Cairo, [Adel Imam's character] screams: “This is a time of deformity,” his tears mixing with the booze on his breath. “This country was better than Paris. They’ve ruined it.” That this film dares to ask what went wrong is, ultimately, its wisest achievement.

I have mixed feelings about statements like “They’ve ruined it.” Who are “they”? And is it wise, afterall, to compare an enormous country like Egypt to a metropolis like Paris? We all know Egypt was “better than” anything: it was the seat of civilization, once upon a time. To compare it to a relatively new city in the West gives away exactly what went wrong…imperialism followed by reverence for all things Western.

Anyway, I still can’t wait to see it.

I know it’s a bit soon to be nostalgic (I can’t help it; it’s genetic), but please: Indulge me.

I will miss my son’s school. It’s a badass little anti-institutional institution with classrooms as big as my apartment–about 1,100 square feet. Which means my kid can be loud and dramatic and run around. Plus there are no grades, no homework assignments, and they garden and hike. He made these papier-mache masks in art class. His art teacher is wonderful.Coffee shops. I know there’ll be coffee shops in Ann Arbor, but there’s something about Austin coffee shops that can’t be replicated, such as the presence of things like sit-down hair driers:in the middle of the yard. I’m also going to miss yummy bakeries like Quak’s:
Again, there are tons of awesome bakeries in Ann Arbor. But do they make Marvelous Morning Muffins (nuts, cranberries, apples, carrots, sugar, sugar, sugar, and bran)??? Gosh, I’m going to have to sleep with a baker to get the recipe. Don’t worry about me. It’ll be fun: he’s hot. And I’m also going to miss Almost-Perfect blue skies:

By the way, these pics were made with an old Hi-Matic E Minolta, and the film speed was off…

I’m moving soon, and lately, I’ve been dreaming of nothing but movement. A few nights ago I dreamt I was driving down the highway in a kiddie pool with wheels.

My son said the funniest thing yesterday. I asked him to clean up the living room, which was littered with plates, a robe, a can, magic trick supplies, and a tangle of play station/x-box wires. He obliged, but when he got to the wires, he was stumped, and picked up the mass of mess, which looked like stubborn giant-lady dreads, and said, “Look at all these wires! How are we going to move all these wires?!” It was a poignant question, because I’ve been living in my apartment for 4 years, in Texas for 8, and I think there were moments when I was more willing to stay for the tangled wires than leave. Also, I think it’s hilarious to picture a family saying, Oh, we can’t move. First off: there’s all those wires.

My parents called this morning to check if I called them earlier, which I thought was funny. My father got on the phone and said I should move the (old, tattered, ugly) plaid couch with me to Michigan, even if I take nothing else. I think I laughed for about half a minute. It was apparently a very expensive couch, and was foisted upon me– along with the 12-year-old dining room table and some chairs (which have since broken)– when I first moved down to Texas, 20 years old and bright-eyed and dying to get away from my family and from my ex. I’ve been lugging the stuff — both the literal and figurative baggage–around for 8 years. I’m so ready to let it all go.

I woke up at 5:45 this morning (courtesy of my lovely neighbor) and forgot my dreams immediately, but was launched into frantic thoughts about these characters I’ve been dreaming up for a possible third book (which could very well dethrone the second and demand to be written first). They were all suddenly present, and so vibrant, and I was grateful for their movement.

Tony Judt in an Op-Ed on the Israel Lobby in the NYT:

The damage that is done by America’s fear of anti-Semitism when discussing Israel is threefold. It is bad for Jews: anti-Semitism is real enough (I know something about it, growing up Jewish in 1950′s Britain), but for just that reason it should not be confused with political criticisms of Israel or its American supporters. It is bad for Israel: by guaranteeing it unconditional support, Americans encourage Israel to act heedless of consequences. The Israeli journalist Tom Segev described the Mearsheimer-Walt essay as “arrogant” but also acknowledged ruefully: “They are right. Had the United States saved Israel from itself, life today would be better …the Israel Lobby in the United States harms Israel’s true interests.”

This story is incredible:

Novelist Charles Webb, 66, and his partner have only days to pay two months’ overdue rent, totalling nearly £1,600, on their flat in Hove.

Mr Webb wrote the book on which the 1967 movie starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft was based.

The Californian author accepted a one-off payment of £14,000 for the novel, while the film made £60m.

Mr Webb, who based The Graduate on his relationship with his partner Fred, has spent five years caring for her after she suffered a nervous breakdown.

He is still writing but has not had anything published for some time.

There are many lessons to glean from this sad, sad tale, but the two majors ones are:

1. One-off payments are a very bad idea.

2. Never marry people who have nervous breakdowns, especially if you’re a writer. You’re the one supposed to be having the breakdowns.

Dustin Hoffman should send the £1,600 to the guy, pronto. I mean, who would Hoffman be today without him?

I’m getting a lot of hits from people who googled the phrase above. Yes, HEB is closed today. Happy Pesach! I leave you with this play, which I wrote 2 years ago about this lovely time of year.

… is fascinating. He’s profiled in today’s Sunday Times Magazine. I wanted to quote the entire profile here…

I forgot to mention this in the last post: Jaime will be doing Maggie stories for the Funny Pages section of the New York Times! There’ll be a new story on April 23rd! He’s taking it over from Chris Ware. I can’t wait.