Tales of horror: coming face-to-face with authors

Er, my dog, I meant. I can't type.

ismael klata obviously this is the choice bit of that interview

Faulks turned to the Koran for his research, and was appalled: “It’s a depressing book. It really is. It’s just the rantings of a schizophrenic. It’s very one-dimensional, and people talk about the beauty of the Arabic and so on, but the English translation I read was, from a literary point of view, very disappointing.

“There is also the barrenness of the message. I mean, there are some bits about diet, you know, the equivalent of the Old Testament, which is also crazy. If you look again at those books of the law, Leviticus or Deuteronomy, there’s a lot about who you are allowed to sleep with, and if a man had lost his testicles he wouldn’t enter into the presence of God, that is just terrible. But the great thing about the Old Testament is that it does have these incredible stories. Of the 100 greatest stories ever told, 99 are probably in the Old Testament and the other is in Homer.

“With the Koran there are no stories. And it has no ethical dimension like the New Testament, no new plan for life. It says ‘the Jews and the Christians were along the right tracks, but actually, they were wrong and I’m right, and if you don’t believe me, tough — you’ll burn for ever.’ That’s basically the message of the book.”

I ask if he had talked to many British Muslims before beginning to write. “I didn’t, actually, no. I read some books and I’ve got a few Muslim friends, but I thought I’d get it better from books and from reading the source.”

That's what I meant by the vacuity of the Great British Authors, I suppose - that the guy's identified an important subject and gone to considerable trouble to research it, and has come up with nothing new or insightful to say about it. I'm reading a pop book about the old testament just now which looks at exactly the same points, except that the author displays some curiosity as to why the book might be like that - and consequently displays a thousand times more insight, understanding and warmth than any of these guys could ever come up with. Yet who are considered the important thinkers, and who's the hack?

i think someone needs to assemble for the sake of british authors a list of other things that young british muslims do that aren't "debate whether to become terrorists"

security grabbed my arm and led me away.

If I ever see that woman again, I will knock her out.

― Jessa (Jessa), Thursday, February 19, 2004 4:49 PM (sixteen years ago)

I don't get why security taken you away.

Great thread. More please.

Westlake seems like the worst in the thread.

i can't think of many authors i've met -- we have a big local book festival here so i've gone to listen to quite a few authors read, but haven't really had any profound interactions with anyone. i did get to chat with rick perlstein for a few minutes as he signed my copy of nixonland, which was pretty cool. i also met george saunders very briefly after he did a reading here. very nice guy. so, no horror stories!

Embarrassing story: Umberto Eco was doing a signing at The Strand here in NYC. After he signed my book, I smiled and said "Grazzi", one of the three Italian words I know. At that, he uttered about five sentences to me in Italian. I just smiled and walked away, looking and feeling like a complete moron.

underrated