You always have regime-friendly poets like Muhammad Mahdi al-Jawahiri, whose career basically spans the twentieth century. He's an anti-imperialist, friendly with the Communists, and somehow survives all that and is shuttling between Baghdad and Damascus depending on which way the winds are blowing with the Baathists and their competition. But he's not a regime stooge, he's independent.
A high-ranking Syrian official in DC laughed when he heard I was reading Michel Aflaq and writing this book. He said, "Let me tell you something. The… - Elliott Colla
A high-ranking Syrian official in DC laughed when he heard I was reading Michel Aflaq and writing this book. He said, "Let me tell you something. The…
- Elliott Colla
I wrote Baghdad Central right after translating a great work by Ibrahim al-Koni, who is sort of a master of Arab fiction. In conversations with him I… - Elliott Colla
I wrote Baghdad Central right after translating a great work by Ibrahim al-Koni, who is sort of a master of Arab fiction. In conversations with him I…
Just as certain Cold War binaries were collapsing, new binaries of Sunni versus Shia or Arab versus Kurd were being created by the new occupation for… - Elliott Colla
Just as certain Cold War binaries were collapsing, new binaries of Sunni versus Shia or Arab versus Kurd were being created by the new occupation for…
The Baathist state did two things extremely well. One was create information-gathering intelligence networks and a filing system. There's actually a … - Elliott Colla
The Baathist state did two things extremely well. One was create information-gathering intelligence networks and a filing system. There's actually a …
Each discipline has the capacity to be interested in politics, and each would ask different questions of what politics is, what constitutes power, ho… - Elliott Colla
Each discipline has the capacity to be interested in politics, and each would ask different questions of what politics is, what constitutes power, ho…
English is a forgiving language. It's not like Classical Arabic and it's not like French. You can speak broken English and be expressive and no one w… - Elliott Colla
English is a forgiving language. It's not like Classical Arabic and it's not like French. You can speak broken English and be expressive and no one w…
You always have regime-friendly poets like Muhammad Mahdi al-Jawahiri, whose career basically spans the twentieth century. He's an anti-imperialist, … - Elliott Colla
You always have regime-friendly poets like Muhammad Mahdi al-Jawahiri, whose career basically spans the twentieth century. He's an anti-imperialist, …
Culture is invited to the table usually only as raw material that needs no analysis. - Elliott Colla
Culture is invited to the table usually only as raw material that needs no analysis.
Noir is where the clarity of moral divisions break down, the black and whites turn into grays. - Elliott Colla
Noir is where the clarity of moral divisions break down, the black and whites turn into grays.
Login to join the discussion
Login to join the discussion