Bob Dylan

While Bob Dylan hardly will become the next Nobel Prize laureate, he does deserve the epithet literary genius. Eleven minute tracks, exaggerated use of the harmonica and his unique vocals (not seldom ridiculed) turn some off, but nevertheless Dylan is a giant. Personally I love how he conveys so much emotion with his singing, but his lyrics are unquestionably his greatest feat.

Some of his songs are relevant, important and engaging. Some are playful, mysterious and endlessly intriguing. Some are just sentimental in a way that sends a chill through your core.

Someho, a song like The Times They Are A-Changin' still feels fresh and urgent even though it was written almost fifty years ago.

"Come mothers and fathers

Throughout the land

And don't criticize

What you can't understand

Your sons and your daughters

Are beyond your command

Your old road is rapidly agin'

Please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand

For the times they are a-changin'" (Bob Dylan, The Times They Are A-changin', 1963)

Of course, the times happen to be changing now too, so maybe that's it. Perhaps they always are.

And then there are the songs that might as well be short stories. The ones that have so much detail, so many words, to keep you coming back again and again. And no matter how many times you do, you still can't figure it out. Take Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts. 





And then, my personal favorites. The ones that seem to resound deep within your heart. The ones that feel like you wrote them yourself. And who could describe that feeling better than Dylan himself?

"Then she opened up a book of poems

And handed it to me

Written by an Italian poet

From the thirteenth century

And every one of them words rang true

And glowed like burnin' coal

Pourin' off of every page

Like it was written in my soul from me to you" (Bob Dylan, Tangled Up In Blue, 1974)

Dylan on the unwelcome yet ecstatic feeling of desiring the wrong person:




Dylan's finest songs are both ethereal and incredibly insightful. It doesn't matter if they've been played a million times. I still get the same rush every time I hear Like A Rolling Stone. 

If you haven't seen it yet, I strongly recommend the movie I'm Not There from 2007. The performances are amazing and the use of Dylan's music exquisite.

Religious fanaticism, homosexuality and dirty old men

The Yacoubian Building was the best selling Arabic book in both 2002 and 2003. It has been made into a motion picture as well as a TV show. And no wonder it got all that attention, considering how candid it is about sensitive topics such as sex (especially of the homosexual variety), religion and politics.

The Yacoubian Building doesn't have much of a plot, instead it is largely character driven. It follows the residents of the Yacoubian building, an apartment complex in Cairo (which actually exists, and where the author Alaa-al-Aswany had his first dentist's office). Ranging from the expensive, large apartments in the actual building to the improvised houses built on the roof by the very poorest, the Yacoubian building accomodates all sorts. There are crooks, idealists, politicians and young women just about to blossom.

More than anything this novel is a biting criticism of the modern Egyptian society. Its corruption is ruthlessly exposed. Alaa-al-Aswany doesn't spare anyone, but he doesn't condemn either. One of the strongest points about The Yacoubian Building is the warmth and compassion with which the characters are described. Taha, who joins a militant islamist organization craving revenge after having been brutally tortured and raped by policemen, and Busayna, who performs sexual favors to her boss for some extra cash and gifts; they and everyone else can be understood and even forgiven.

The Yacoubian Building is permeated by great story telling joy and has some really memorable characters. Above all, it offers a unique insight into modern day Egypt.

The BBC World Book Club has a downloadable interview with Alaa-al-Aswany that is well worth a listen here.

Madame Bovary, c'est moi

"Madame Bovary, c'est moi." 

Gustave Flaubert might have written Madame Bovary in much the same spirit as Cervantes wrote Don Quixote; aspiring to warn the masses against reading too much (like there could be such a thing). But apparently he himself felt an affinity with his widely despised character. Apparently enough of an affinity to say that he was Madame Bovary.

Poor Emma Bovary set herself up to fail. Her avid reading of romantic novels led her to have certain expectations. No one told her about the difference between reality and fiction, and hence she went through life expecting to be swept away by great love and craving luxury. Of course, all there was in store for her were disappointing love affairs, debt and arsenic.

This blog is a statement of sorts. A confession. I plead guilty. Guilty of romanticizing, fantasizing and idealizing à la Emma Bovary.

The Madame Bovarys of this world may annoy some, but this is a place for shameful indulgence. A place devoted to immersion into all things fiction.