Ismail Kadare, who won the International Booker this year, has a short story in the 01.02.06 issue of the NYer, The Albanian Writers' Union as Mirrored by a Woman. Do enjoy. In more than one way, it reminded me of Pamuk's Snow. While you are in the issue, please take time to read Laura Miller's profile of Philip Pullman, Far from Narnia. The key graf:
In his Carnegie Medal speech, he said, “We need stories so much that we’re even willing to read bad books to get them, if the good books won’t supply them. We all need stories, but children are more frank about it.” What angers Pullman most about theocracy, in the end, is that it blinds people to the true purpose of narrative. Fundamentalists don’t know how to read stories—including those in the Bible—metaphorically, as if they were Lord Asriel’s imaginary numbers. [emphasis mine]
Blogging NYer.
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