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Concerning the Political in Art
A timely and urgent inquiry by one of global literature's leading lights.
In this concisely argued and illuminating book, the PEN/Faulkner Award–winning author Rabih Alameddine takes the subject of politics and art head-on, questioning the very premise of dividing these two pillars of culture into an either/or proposition. He reveals how a political dimension enlarges a work of art rather than making it less beautiful or reducing it to a polemic, as we are so often and carelessly taught. But he also ponders what makes art political to begin with: how essential is the artist's conscious political intent, and what does the reader or viewer contribute to the work's political capability or significance? In exploring these questions, Alameddine engages intensely with his role as an immigrant and a gay author writing inside a globally dominant, often oblivious culture, and invokes the work of numerous writers, from Tayeb Salih and Aleksandar Hemon to Teju Cole and Salman Rushdie, who also struggle to be heard as something more than an "other." The book features throughout Alameddine's brilliantly relatable voice—shrewd, humorous, challenging, and as honest about his own limitations as he is about his passions.
"Alameddine's lucid analysis cuts to the heart of contemporary discussions about the intersections of politics, identity, and fiction. This is essential reading." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"This slim volume consists of two essays that he delivered as lectures, the second of which was published in Harper's Magazine in 2018. In both, he plays the role of political gadfly...Alameddine might not always be convincing, but he is consistently entertaining. A provocative pair of essays." ―Kirkus Reviews
"A provocative treatise by one of our most important literary writers on the role of politics in literature. Like all of his work, it is both wise and funny." ―Amy Tan, author of The Joy Luck Club
This information about Comforting Myths was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Rabih Alameddine is the author of the novels An Unnecessary Woman; I, the Divine; Koolaids; The Hakawati; The Wrong End of the Telescope; and the story collection, The Perv. In 2019, he won the Dos Passos Prize.
Author Interview
Link to Rabih Alameddine's Website
Name Pronunciation
Rabih Alameddine: Rah-be Ahlah-m'dean
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He has only half learned the art of reading who has not added to it the more refined art of skipping and skimming
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