All my recent intellectual stimulation seems to come from "the East": I am reading Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo trilogy, my friend is from Tunisia, I saw Persepolis, I listen to Souad Massi, I am going to Istanbul and I really want to go to Morocco. I am often going through phases where I am obsessed with a certain geographical region and read a lot on that and in general get inspired. Some time ago I was reading only Latin American writers (Marquez, Sepuldeva, Sabato, Fuentes and later Borges) and was listening to bossa nova (Bebel Gilberto, Adriana Calcanhotto, Elis Regina and Tom Jobim) all the time. Now it's the time of the East and it's proving to be a very interesting time. The best thing about it is that I feel I am getting a glimpse of their culture and their oh-so-hated religion. Islam, I think, is so badly portrayed these days. People all over the world think that Muslims are all fundamentalists, crazy fanatics and uncultured people. From what I know and read, I strongly disagree.
Persepolis deserves a specific mention. It's not as great as I expected but it was very good nonetheless. I had read the books beforehand so I really knew what to expect. The way Marjane Satrapi's graphic novels have been adapted for the screen is visually stunning, such surrealism, such wit. The first part is really moving, and deep down I got affected not because I understand living under an oppressive regime so well, but because I know what it feels to have this love/hate relationship with your home-country.
2 comments:
Lady V, as you know, I absolutely adored Persepolis, both the book and the movie. I found them both sensitive and adorable and desillusioned at the same time. The relationship with the grandmother touched a cord - family is so important, it plays such a more important role in our lives than we like to give it credit for.
For me, Persepolis is all about that. I know I should focus more on the politics of the whole thing, but I don't. I love it because of the family issues it brings.
Family - a nice topic for a blog.
You write that post on family then, so you can give me a bit of a break, I've been writing here no stop... :)
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