The experience of reading collections of non-fiction work can often help put the topical concerns of social media and newspaper reporting into a historical perspective.
Two standout collections from the last decade have been the late Christopher Hitchens's Arguably (2011) and Zadie Smith's Feel Free (2018), which approach everything from Jay Z to Iran with the literary confidence that standard reporting rarely manages to muster. Non-fiction collections also allow authors to show off their argumentative ability in ways that novels, mostly, do not.
Salman Rushdie, the bestselling author of Midnight's Children (1981) and The Satanic Verses (1988), has just published his second non-fiction collection Languages of Truth: Essays 2003-2020. It compiles previously published essays, speeches and interviews and new writing in four separate parts.
Rushdie deals with big philosophical questions like truth, courage, liberty and the nature of stories, while also addressing pop-cultural and literary figures such as Carrie Fisher, Muhammad Ali, Philip Roth and Samuel Beckett.
Languages of Truth feels like a second act: coming after his first collection of essays, Step Across This Line: Collected Nonfiction 1992-2002. His first non-fiction offering deals with urgent topics: the fatwa announced against him by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989, the success of his novel Midnight's Children, 9/11 and the disputed election of George W Bush.
While his first collection spanned 10 years, his new book covers 17, from the start of the Iraq War to the coronavirus pandemic. The result is, sometimes, a loss of relevance. His various commencement addresses and speeches from the 2000s would have been better served in a separate collection covering that decade.
Instead, Rushdie’s essays are placed non-chronologically in the book. There are also few dates indicating when the pieces were written. Consequently, a reader never knows when Rushdie’s writing is contemporaneous or retrospective.
The first part of the collection is ambitious and addresses the big questions of literature: storytelling, truth, morals and reality, but the essays feel loose, digressive and sometimes conversational. It is often hard to follow his arguments to a convincing conclusion.
In a later essay, Autobiography and the Novel, Rushdie attacks the current fashion for real-life narratives in novels as a "self-regard [that] has never been so well regarded". Amid such "promiscuity of revelation", he asks "how can art compete?"The last essay in the first part of the book, Another Writer's Beginnings, is autobiographical and straightforward. It brilliantly describes Rushdie's struggles as a migrant, a member of an ethnic minority group and a frustrated young writer in England whose "road" to literary fame was "full of potholes." His public boarding school, Rugby, teaches him "everything" about "racism". While studying at Cambridge, however, he "discovers a tolerant Britain that erase[s]...memories of another racist one".
Rushdie is at his most engaging when he writes about current affairs and events through the prism of his own life and times
Ironically, Rushdie is at his most engaging in Languages of Truth when he writes about current affairs and events through the prism of his own life and times. This is because he has a unique perspective: he was born in Mumbai, educated at elite institutions in England and currently holds American citizenship.
This has allowed him to have a foot in both colonial and post-colonial cultures; in both the 20th and 21st centuries and the old world and the new. He also has years of experience of writing about three of the world’s most important democracies: the UK, the USA and India.
His comments on Britain’s imperial legacy are especially timely and arrive as the UK, sparked by the toppling of the slave trader Edward Colston’s statue in Bristol last year, begins to debate the meaning of its colonial history.
Rushdie's contribution to this debate has been made through his beloved novels such as Midnight's Children, Shame (1983) and Quichotte (2019). In Languages of Truth, his arguments about empire are spread across various essays.
He makes the point that Britain, and the West more broadly, still does not understand the complexity of their own or India’s history because “so much of it happened overseas”. For Rushdie, a historical example of this lack of understanding can be found in the names used by historians to describe the same event: “During the British Empire, the military revolt of 1857 was known as the ‘Indian Mutiny’, a mutiny is a rebellion against the authorities...the meaning of that fact, placed the ‘mutinying’ Indians in the wrong. Indian historians today refer to this event as the “Indian Uprising”, which makes it an entirely different sort of fact.”
He also draws interesting parallels between the exoticism of old "Western movies about India [that featured] blonde white women arriving there to find, almost at once, a maharajah to fall in love with", and Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire (2009) which replaces "raj tourism" with "slum tourism".
In Languages of Truth, Rushdie is explicit about the important role the "imagination" plays in distinguishing fiction from memoir. However, the non-fiction essay's similar reliance on compelling argument doesn't seem, in this collection, to be fully realised.
When Languages of Truth does decide to offer a proper argument, we see Rushdie at his best: perceptive, funny, cosmopolitan and brave.
STAR%20WARS%20JEDI%3A%20SURVIVOR
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDeveloper%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Respawn%20Entertainment%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Electronic%20Arts%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EConsoles%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20PC%2C%20Playstation%205%2C%20Xbox%20Series%20X%20and%20S%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
Dates for the diary
To mark Bodytree’s 10th anniversary, the coming season will be filled with celebratory activities:
- September 21 Anyone interested in becoming a certified yoga instructor can sign up for a 250-hour course in Yoga Teacher Training with Jacquelene Sadek. It begins on September 21 and will take place over the course of six weekends.
- October 18 to 21 International yoga instructor, Yogi Nora, will be visiting Bodytree and offering classes.
- October 26 to November 4 International pilates instructor Courtney Miller will be on hand at the studio, offering classes.
- November 9 Bodytree is hosting a party to celebrate turning 10, and everyone is invited. Expect a day full of free classes on the grounds of the studio.
- December 11 Yogeswari, an advanced certified Jivamukti teacher, will be visiting the studio.
- February 2, 2018 Bodytree will host its 4th annual yoga market.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Zodi%20%26%20Tehu%3A%20Princes%20Of%20The%20Desert
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EEric%20Barbier%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EYoussef%20Hajdi%2C%20Nadia%20Benzakour%2C%20Yasser%20Drief%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
UAE v IRELAND
All matches start at 10am, and will be played in Abu Dhabi
1st ODI, Friday, January 8
2nd ODI, Sunday, January 10
3rd ODI, Tuesday, January 12
4th ODI, Thursday, January 14
Frankenstein in Baghdad
Ahmed Saadawi
Penguin Press
