The literary critic Northrop Frye had a theory of modes, which described how mythical or everyday a story was. The first tales of Western literature were about gods, or semi-gods (the Iliad, or Genesis); then stories became romances, describing heroes that were mortal but grander than life (Arthurian legend); then came stories of remarkable human [...]
Entries from September 2007
September 27, 2007
The Count of Monte Christo
The more time I spend on this planet, the more I see the centrality of The Count of Monte Christo to Western literature. It is certainly a strange book to applaud: the impeccable plotting of the first 300 pages (where every short chapter hooks the reader into the next one) then gives way to 900 [...]
September 20, 2007
Safety and Sexuality in Damascus
I’ve written another article for new arrivals to Syria, on one of my most predictable topics: Safety and Sexuality in Damascus. I tried to talk about the situation for both foreign men and foreign women, as I, another new arrival, see it. Have a look, decide what you disagree with.
Daniel
September 17, 2007
Israel and Syria
I hope all this will remain calm.
Joshua Landis on the Israeli “strike”.
September 13, 2007
Sexual harassment
I’ve got to know several students from SOAS (a university in London) who are on their year away to study Arabic here in Damascus. A few days ago, one of them was nearly raped in her house. About 1pm, she called me, as I live five minutes away, and in a shaky voice, asked me [...]
