Egypt posts record EGP629b primary surplus in 2024/25    EGP swings vs. USD in early Sunday trade    EGX launches 1st phone app    Egypt achieves record primary budget surplus of EGP 629bn despite sharp fall in Suez Canal revenues    Escalation in Gaza, West Bank as Israeli strikes continue amid mounting international criticism    Egypt recovers collection of ancient artefacts from Netherlands    Resumption of production at El Nasr marks strategic step towards localising automotive industry: El-Shimy    Egypt harvests 315,000 cubic metres of rainwater in Sinai as part of flash flood protection measures    Egypt, UNDP discuss outcomes of joint projects, future environmental cooperation    United Bank achieves EGP 1.51bn net profit in H1 2025, up 26.9% year-on-year    After Putin summit, Trump says peace deal is best way to end Ukraine war    Egypt, Namibia explore closer pharmaceutical cooperation    Jordan condemns Israeli PM remarks on 'Greater Israel'    Renowned Egyptian novelist Sonallah Ibrahim dies at 88    Egypt's FM discusses Gaza, bilateral ties in calls with Saudi, South African counterparts    Egypt prepares to tackle seasonal air pollution in Nile Delta    Al-Sisi says any party thinking Egypt will neglect water rights is 'completely mistaken'    Egyptian, Ugandan Presidents open business forum to boost trade    Egypt's Sisi, Uganda's Museveni discuss boosting ties    Egypt's Sisi warns against unilateral Nile measures, reaffirms Egypt's water security stance    Egypt, Colombia discuss medical support for Palestinians injured in Gaza    Egypt, Huawei explore healthcare digital transformation cooperation    Egypt's Sisi, Sudan's Idris discuss strategic ties, stability    Egypt's govt. issues licensing controls for used cooking oil activities    Egypt to inaugurate Grand Egyptian Museum on 1 November    Egypt's Sisi: Egypt is gateway for aid to Gaza, not displacement    Greco-Roman rock-cut tombs unearthed in Egypt's Aswan    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







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Weekly international book digest
Published in Almasry Alyoum on 12 - 05 - 2010

Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in England by Anthony Julius (Oxford University Press, 2010)
Harold Bloom reviews this new account of what he calls the “long squalor of Jew-hatred in a supposedly enlightened, humane, liberal society” favorably. “With a training both literary and legal, Julius is well prepared for the immensity of his task,” Bloom writes. He particularly admires the section on the representation of Jews in English literature, although he complains that Julius does not quite capture the extent of the harm Shakepeare did by creating his most famous Jewish character, Shylock. “No representation of a Jew in literature ever will surpass Shylock in power, negative eloquence and persuasiveness.” But Bloom commends Julius for his stance opposing contemporary British intelligentsia, and reflects the controversial writing with his own: “I admire Julius for the level tone with which he discusses this sanctimonious intelligentsia, who really will not rest until Israel is destroyed.”
The Good Son by Michael Gruber (Henry Holt, 2010)
Gruber's seventh novel is, according to this reviewer, also his most ambitious. The storyline involves an American psychotherapist named Sonia who marries Laghari, a Pakistani lawyer, and moves with him to Lahore, where they raise a son, Theo. Gruber aims to use the mother and son's divergent cultural identifies as means to examine the tension between the Muslim world and the world Sonia, and Gruber, are more familiar with. Although “its middle section, when Sonia and her colleagues are held captive, drags a bit as they discuss at length religion, peace, poetry and various aspects of the Muslim psyche,” the reviewer compliments Gruber's writing and suggests that readers might learn something about the “east and west,” that is, “if you happen to share Gruber's worldview.”
A Winter on the Nile: Florence Nightingale, Gustave Flaubert and the Temptations of Egypt by Anthony Sattin (Hutchinson, 2010)
This new history is based on a beguiling coincidence, that in 1849 the novelist Gustave Flaubert, his masterpiece Madame Bovary still unwritten, and the future nurse Florence Nightingale sailed the Nile in the same boat. They never interacted, and their experiences and outlooks would have varied greatly, but Egypt left an indelible mark on both. This reviewer writes that Sattin's book is “dreamlike,” both to justify its existence—he must create a connection between two people who never spoke—and to illustrate its point, that “in the midst of life, those destined for greatness have no more idea where they are going than the rest of us. A slow boat up the Nile makes the perfect metaphor for this.”
Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet by Bill McKibben (Times Books/Henry Holt & Company. April 2010)
This new environmentally-focused book is at once chastising and funny, coining an unpronounceable word for the planet we usually call Earth. “Earth with one 'a,' according to Mc­Kibben, no longer exists. We have carbonized it out of existence.” Its an awkward linguistic invention that makes this reviewer sardonically wishes he could find a word, “probably in German,” that describes one who reverts back to bad ecological habits even after reading convincing environmental texts. McKibben offers little in the way of new, formidable solutions, and clearly does not agree with the reviewer's vision of a necessary “overarching authority, a kind of ecologically minded Lenin.” But, “unlike many writers on environmental cataclysm, McKibben is actually a writer, and a very good one at that. He is smart enough to know that the reader needs a dark chuckle of a bone thrown at him now and then to keep plowing through the bad news.” Too bad they might be chuckling from behind the wheel of a Hummer.


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