World Religion Watch

A Cross-cultural Book Review: Touching by Adania Shibli and Kneller's Happy Summer Camp by Etgar Keret

Our objective here is to comparatively review two books: Kneller's happy summer camp, by Etgar Keret, 1998, and Touching, by Adania Shibli, 2002. Our main reason for operating a comparative analysis on these two works of fiction is linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the books both provide examples of the new literary scene in the two countries concerned. Indeed, there is a departure from the classical form of writing, which consists in not taking the conflict into account, or at least, in not making it the main focus of their story. Moreover, this comparative analysis aims to highlight the emergence of what we believe may be a new literary movement.

Read more: A Cross-cultural Book Review: Touching by Adania Shibli and Kneller's Happy Summer Camp by Etgar...

"The Parthenon as a metaphor"

Christos Chryssopoulos, La destruction du Parthénon, Actes Sud, 2012.

In 1944, surrealist poet and secretary of the ASAS (the Society of Aesthetic Saboteurs of Antiques), Yorgos Makris wrote a manifesto entitled “Let’s blow up the Acropolis!” On Friday the17^th of this month, in The destruction of the Parthenon, Ch. K., the anti-hero of the novel actually blew up the Parthenon. A part of the Acropolis was obliterated to be replaced by the immensity of an empty sky. The astonished Athenians watched and commented on the scene, asking themselves plenty of questions: Who could have done such a thing? Who could have damaged their symbol? Why? Was it real, or were they just dreaming? This doubt persists throughout the novel: it becomes hard for the reader to tell reality from fiction. Christos Chryssopoulos constructs his work, The destruction of the Parthenon, on these questions. Several voices mingle in an attempt to understand the incomprehensible. The Parthenon has been profaned, someone has to be punished. Ch. K., who will be arrested, will have to pay for “the destruction of the symbol” (p. 57).

Read more: "The Parthenon as a metaphor"

Pourquoi une nouvelle page Facebook?

La page Facebook « World Religion Watch » vous informe en anglais et en français sur l'actualité religieuse nationale et internationale. Les articles proposés par les membres du site www.world-religion-watch.org sont systématiquement relayés par les administrateurs sur la page principale pour alimenter notre revue de presse. Chacun peut y réagir et toute contribution est bienvenue. Mais nous avons récemment dû faire face à un problème imprévu.

Read more: Pourquoi une nouvelle page Facebook?

Über-Bobo goes global: the rise and mobility of a new dominant world class?

In his recent book, Souci de Soi, Conscience du Monde : Vers une religion globale ? (Armand Colin, Paris 2012) Raphaël Liogier examines the dominant religious sentiment of the age, a sentiment he calls "Individuo-globalism." Not quite religion, more than mere ideology, individuo-globalism desginates a transnational religious sentiment -a faith- which touches nearly every aspect of modern life. Rooted in the fertile soil of nineteenth century European Romanticism and later American Transcendentalism, nourished by Western reinterpretations and re-appropriations of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism as well as the various technological advances of the twentieth century, individuo-globalism has emerged onto the world stage and gives life to a new religious sentiment shared -and lived out- by millions.

Read more: Über-Bobo goes global: the rise and mobility of a new dominant world class?

Mossadegh et l'occident : Une erreur grossière aux conséquences incommensurables

Mohammed Mossadegh

Patriot of Persia : Muhammad Mossadegh and a Tragic Anglo-American Coup.
by Christopher de Bellaigue. Harper, 310pp.

[Patriote de Perse : Muhammad Mossadegh et le tragique coup d'État anglo-américain, Christopher de Bellaigue].

Muhammad Mossadegh, le Premier ministre Iranien renversé par les services secrets américains et anglais en 1953, était le genre de personne à refuser un salaire, à rendre les cadeaux et à percevoir les arriérés d'impôts de sa chère mère. Alliant sobriété et rigueur, cet aristocrate au long nez faisait enrager l'Occident en soutenant que le pétrole iranien et son exploitation devait profiter à l'Iran, et non à la Grande-Bretagne. Membre de la famille princière Qajar, il ne se départit jamais de son air de noblesse distinguée, même une fois devenu le symbole de la détermination de l'Iran d'après-guerre. Il s'évanouissait, se pâmait - et n'était souvent vêtu que de son pyjama. Il ne s'avouait jamais vaincu. Ses grands principes prenaient trop souvent le pas sur tout compromis judicieux pour que Mossadegh puisse être un homme politique à succès.

Read more: Mossadegh et l'occident : Une erreur grossière aux conséquences incommensurables

Raphaël Liogier, Le mythe de l'islamisation

Il n'est peut-être pas de nation qui puisse subsister sans la distinction de l'ami et de l'ennemi, du citoyen et de l'étranger, sans la délimitation de frontières et d'un espace clos sur lequel s'exerce la souveraineté de l'Etat.

A quoi s'ajoute la fabrication d'un récit, plus ou moins fictif, qui vise à souder les citoyens dans le sentiment d'une identité partagée et d'une histoire commune. Mais qu'advient-il à une telle société si les ressorts de l'unité nationale et du patriotisme se nourrissent, chez un nombre croissant de citoyens, de l'imaginaire d'une menace qui conduit à stigmatiser une catégorie d'individus en raison de leur appartenance à une religion particulière ? Est-ce là un facteur de vitalité ou au contraire le symptôme d'une pathologie sociale ?

On l'aura compris, c'est la seconde hypothèse qui a toutes les chances d'être la plus exacte. Encore convient-il de prouver qu'il s'agit bien là d'un fantasme se développant au sein d'une société en proie à une profonde crise identitaire. Tel est le diagnostic que porte le sociologue Raphaël Liogier dans son dernier ouvrage, Le mythe de l'islamisation. Essai sur une obsession collective (Paris, Le Seuil, 2012).

Read more: Raphaël Liogier, Le mythe de l'islamisation

The Daughters of Allah: towards an open discourse on faith...

In his novel, Nedim Gürsel relates his childhood. After the death of his father and the departure of his mother, he is raised by his grandparents. The grandfather is a Muslim landowner and a jurist. He is a disabled war veteran who tries to instill Islamic principles into his grandson. As for his grandmother, she used to tell him stories from the Koran and traditional Turkish legends. Building on this education, the child created his own imagination, haunted by questionings about good and evil and Mahomet’s life. On reching adulthood, among his grandfather’s documents, Nedim Gürsel discovers a diary in which his the latter had written about his war experience in Arabia during World War I. He explains how he fought against the Arabs, who were allied with the British, in order to defend Medina. Nedim Gürsel also tells us about his friend Ismaîl, murdered by his own father, the baker Ibrahim. This autobiographical part of the novel is blended with another form of narrative. Nedim Gürsel has the pre-Islmaic idols Manat, Uzza and Lat speak about the emergence of Islam and Muslim faith. These three idols were considered to be Allah’s daughters, intercessors between Allah and mankind.

Read more: The Daughters of Allah: towards an open discourse on faith...