How can I expect readers to know who I am if I do not tell them about my family, my friends, the relationships in my life? Who am I if not where I fit in the world, where I fit in the lives of the people dear to me? Rabih Alameddine More Quotes by Rabih Alameddine More Quotes From Rabih Alameddine The whole world is going insane right now. We, too, have our own problems. The president of Lebanon is an arch-menace. But I think, as horrid as he is - and he is absolutely insane - he's still more sane than Trump, so that tells me a lot. Rabih Alameddine insane president thinking For someone like me and my generation, you had to speak French to be sophisticated, you had to be lighter-skinned. Rabih Alameddine sophisticated speak You look at the Koran or the Bible, they all tell the same stories. You see them as the stories of the Middle East. The stories reflect who these people were in the Middle East, and this is where Western culture came from. All our literature is basically influenced by these great myths. So I'm fascinated by it. You could almost say I'm obsessed with it. But if you're asking about the effect of religion on my life - almost everything I do is opposed to the practice of religion. Rabih Alameddine literature culture people I'm an atheist, a devout atheist, but I find religion fascinating. Primarily because of cultural references, as in: This is what we grew up with. Both on a personal level and a collective level. Rabih Alameddine atheist If I were to pray in Arabic, I'd pray to Allah. If I were to pray in English, I'd pray to God. Rabih Alameddine allah pray english god A phoenix, Beirut seems to always pull itself out its ashes, reinvents itself, has been conquered numerous times in its 7,000-year history, yet it survives by both becoming whatever its conquerors wished it to be and retaining its idiosyncratic persona. Rabih Alameddine whatever always phoenix history No one needs to be reminded of racism in soccer: the xenophobia, the nativism and, yes, nationalism. Rabih Alameddine yes nationalism racism soccer My father and I rarely saw eye to eye when I was growing up. We saw the world differently. It was only when we were both adults that we were able to share spectacles. However, football, and particularly the World Cup, was when we, enemy combatants, could traverse trenches and be together. Rabih Alameddine together football father world All living languages are promiscuous. We promiscuous speakers shamelessly shoplift words, plucking bons mots and phrases from any tempting language. We wear these words when we wish to be more formal, more elegant, more mysterious, worldly, precise, vague. Rabih Alameddine wear words language wish Now I love hoops. I'm a diehard UCLA fan, have been since my freshman year. But basketball is the '1812 Overture.' Pomp and circumstance, fireworks and cannons, lots and lots of fun, and in the end, still Tchaikovsky. Rabih Alameddine end basketball fun love I get upset about what is taken as great literature and what is cute and exotic. Rabih Alameddine great upset literature cute I read Shakespeare when I was 14 because it's what we were taught. Rabih Alameddine read were because taught In school in Lebanon, we were not allowed to speak Arabic during breaks - it had to be French or English. Rabih Alameddine english lebanon speak school There are over 1 million refugees in Lebanon, a country of 4 million people. How do we solve that? I have no idea. What's going on, I really don't know. Rabih Alameddine how know country people In Lebanon, there are completely different opinions and values in one country in terms of religion, modernity, tradition, East and West - which allows for a kind of intellectual development not available anywhere else. Rabih Alameddine values tradition country religion I can easily hold two opposing beliefs at the same time without any problem, which I find - well, mind-expanding, really. Rabih Alameddine find i-can problem time 'Harat' is actually - it's a Lebanese dialect word. It comes from 'the mapmaker,' somebody who makes a map. And it basically means somebody who tells fibs or exaggerate tales a little bit. Rabih Alameddine map somebody little who We seem, particularly over here in the West and in America in particular, to have forgotten that we are, in large measures, the story we tell ourselves about ourselves. Rabih Alameddine over story tell america I jokingly say if there was one great thing about, you know, the Lebanese Civil War was that it forced me to read. Rabih Alameddine great me you war If you go through any culture that has had wars, go to the bomb shelters, and you'll hear some amazing stories. Yes, it's a necessary thing that we actually both distract ourselves and it's a way to bond. Rabih Alameddine bond amazing you culture
