Reading Amitava on 02 Dec 2009 10:46 pm
The New Inquisition
Laila Lalami in the Nation:
At a literary festival in New York City some years ago, I was introduced to a French writer who, almost immediately after we shook hands, asked me where I was from. When the answer was “Morocco,” he put down his drink and stared at me with anthropological curiosity. We spoke about literature, of course, and discovered a common love for the work of the South African writer J.M. Coetzee, but before long the conversation had turned to Moroccan writers, then to Moroccan writers in France, and then, as I expected it eventually would, to Moroccan immigrants in France–at which point the French writer declared, “If they were all like you, there wouldn’t be a problem.”
Also see this piece by Pankaj Mishra that had appeared in August
on 05 Dec 2009 at 3:09 am # Maitrayee
Hi…I know this is rather random but I am an M.Phil. student at the English Dept, Delhi University. I just recently stumbled upon Passport Photos and I am just writing in to say I simply loved it! I am working on your book and some American editorial cartoons for a paper on the shaping of dissent in the South Asian diaspora. Though I have my own bone to pick with the book, I do find the a critical engagement with your work richly rewarding!