Rabih Alameddine, award-winning writer of The Wrong End of the Telescope, celebrated the merchandise of his caller novel, The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) astatine The Center for Fiction.
Wildly archetypal and wickedly funny, Alameddine’s latest explores the profound enslaved betwixt a parent and lad crossed decades. Set successful Lebanon, the communicative is told successful the unforgettable dependable of Raja, a beloved doctrine teacher and “the vicinity homosexual.” When Raja embarks connected a penning residency successful America, helium gains long-sought region from some idiosyncratic and nationalist turmoil. But his travel soon compels him to face the past, weaving a almighty communicative of memory, identity, and resilience.
Author and exertion John Freeman, who co-edited the forthcoming Penguin Book of the International Short Story with Alameddine, joined Alameddine for a compelling treatment of this tragicomic emotion story.
From the conversation:
John Freeman: Well, 1 of my favourite lines successful the publication is, aft Raja emerges from this experience, which I don’t privation to accidental much about, just, delight work the publication and get to this section, due to the fact that it volition truly stroke your mind. He’s asked to construe it, and helium says that what was traumatic was returning to this reality, and not what happened to him there. And I consciousness similar that tin use to truthful galore sections of his life. But also, I consciousness similar it applies truthful overmuch to the tornadic world we unrecorded successful close now. Or you mightiness beryllium successful immoderate hard circumstance, but returning to what is presumed to beryllium mean is astir worse. Have you experienced that successful the past mates of years?
Rabih Alameddine: Yeah. I mean, we spell backmost to however it’s the stories we archer ourselves astir ourselves, astir what’s happening. But the satellite is successful horrible shape. I don’t person to archer you radical that it’s horrid. So however bash we past this? How bash we unrecorded successful a satellite wherever we’re committing genocide and immoderate radical are inactive cheering that? How bash we unrecorded successful a satellite wherever radical are disappearing disconnected the streets, wherever we person Gestapo with masks on, picking radical disconnected the street? If I spell retired now, idiosyncratic could travel successful a van and prime maine up disconnected the thoroughfare and nonstop maine to El Salvador earlier I could bash anything. I’m terrified of that. And I lived done that for a agelong time. I came implicit present reasoning it could ne'er happen, but it happens now.
If this is each going on, however bash we survive? What benignant of stories bash we archer ourselves to spell done this?
So here’s the thing. If this is each going on, however bash we survive? What benignant of stories bash we archer ourselves to spell done this? It has been my experience. And please, you tin close maine if I’m wrong, that astir radical I speech to deliberation that it volition not hap to them. That’s however we past that. Oh, they’re picking up radical who look Latino, truthful I arsenic a achromatic idiosyncratic volition not person to spell done that. They mightiness not accidental that openly, but astir of america judge it, that it can’t hap to america due to the fact that I was calved successful this country. It can’t hap to america due to the fact that of many, galore things. I don’t person to archer you, but I americium going to archer you that it tin happen. It starts with what they telephone aliens oregon whatever. But erstwhile you let that, erstwhile you let the service onto the streets, it’s a downward spiral.
So what stories bash we archer ourselves? Raja, who successful my mind, arsenic fucked up arsenic helium is, is little fucked up than I am. You know, he’s idiosyncratic I would similar to be, helium is really capable to compartmentalize and archer antithetic stories astir this. Right present I’m having a batch of occupation telling myself that everything volition beryllium okay. I’m having capable occupation that I’m not definite what the constituent of doing thing similar this is, oregon what the constituent of penning is. But it’s a large issue.
How bash we spell from knowing what’s happening successful the satellite and looking astatine it and seeing it and not prevarication to ourselves astir what’s going on, that yes, we are committing a genocide. It’s not happening implicit there. We are committing it. How bash we bash that? How do—I don’t cognize astir you—how bash I unrecorded with myself knowing that I’m doing that? And that’s a hard thing. But the publication is funny.
JF: Well, it is besides afloat of moments of tenderness. It ne'er doesn’t look straight astatine the concern successful which Raja and his parent and his Aunt Yasmine and everyone other successful the publication are in. But different favourite enactment is, “the women talked and talked, stroking each different with words.” And adjacent arsenic Raja is being driven to what volition hap to him and instrumentality him away, which volition beryllium the benignant of halfway acquisition of the publication that we alluded to successful that longer spot of conversation. He’s wholly stoned driving successful the backmost of an orangish BMW 2002, and the nighttime aerial is blowing connected his look successful the astir delicious way. And I consciousness similar you, successful penning those moments, person benignant of retrieved world from the thought that it’s totalized by unspeakable things, that you tin person a unspeakable happening close adjacent to a bully thing. And the bully happening isn’t invalidated by the unspeakable thing, particularly if it has to bash with acts of attraction betwixt loved ones, family, students, and their teacher, and—
I unrecorded with this due to the fact that I americium fortunate capable that I tin work a fantastic publication and beryllium inspired.
RA: Or inspiration. Again, it’s 1 of the things I mean erstwhile I say, however bash I unrecorded with this? I unrecorded with this due to the fact that I americium fortunate capable that I tin work a fantastic publication and beryllium inspired. I’m fortunate capable that I tin perceive to Beethoven’s 15th Sonata and conscionable burst into tears. That lifts me. Raja is similar. He finds his enjoyment somewhere. The satellite is truly horrific and we should beryllium capable to look astatine it squarely. But I enactment due to the fact that I tin inactive find immoderate inspiration from beauty, from existent quality successful this world. And immoderate of the quality is really people. Though I truly hatred people, truthful it’s hard for maine to admit that. But yes, however we dainty each other, past the astonishing things we bash to each other, is conscionable wonderful. And it continues to animate me.
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Rabih Alameddine is the writer of the novels The Wrong End of the Telescope; Angel of History; An Unnecessary Woman; The Hakawati; I, the Divine; Koolaids; the communicative collection, The Perv; and 1 enactment of nonfiction, Comforting Myths. He has won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and was a finalist for the National Book Award. He received the Dos Passos Prize successful 2019 and a Lannan Award successful 2021.
John Freeman is co-editor (with Rabih Alameddine) of the forthcoming Penguin Book of the International Short Story, and the writer and exertion of different twelve books including California Rewritten, his caller publication of essays. An enforcement exertion astatine Alfred A. Knopf, helium hosts Alta’s California Book Club erstwhile a period implicit zoom.
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