Sunday, 25 May 2008
Reaction to The Rock of Tanios
Though Amin Maalouf never specifies the location of this book, it is not difficult to figure out that it is in a Middle Eastern setting. Since I have grown up in a middle eastern setting it is not difficult for me to be able to connect with manny aspects of this book. The characters' culture in this book is familiar to mine. Usage of arabic words such as "sheikh" in the book may be foreign to western readers, but I recognized it instantly as an honorific term. In fact, this term is still used today and can be bought and added to your passport here in Lebanon. Even the type of food that they eat is similar to ours nowadays in Lebanon for example the cheese that they ate is one of my grandfather's favorites. The people that live in the mountains in the book show how hierarchy was molded into their culture. The power of the sheikh in this book was opulent. Everyone in the village went and kissed his hand in the morning and he took a part of all their produce. Though the time the book is set in is probably long ago, remnants of this ancient arab culture is still found today which makes this book a whole lot easier to relate to.
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I also found it easy to connect with the book and its characters, plot, settings, etc. i think that we, as readers from Lebanon, have the advantage of gaining a better understnading of the themes and messages sice we can identify not only words like "sheikh" and "kishk" but also ways of thinking, cultures, norms, etc. So the reading seems more familiar. However, i dont think that the book took place a very long time ago ( a few decades ago perhaps).. and its not really ancient.
Well, actually Amin Maalouf, or rather the narrator does mention that the novel is primarily set in the Mountains, which refers to Mount Lebanon ( that's what it was called back then), but you're right that the Middle Eastern setting is recognizable anyway. The feudal system is evident, as you mentioned - and it was also present a long time ago in most of Europe - but this is a rather bizarre system. Of course, being Lebanese, there has to be an extra twist, such as the custom of kissing the Sheikh's hand every morning ( most feudal lords are satisfied with taxing and taking a percentage of the villagers crops!).
Your right Dima, perhaps "ancient" was a bit of a stretch. You know how I can get overly enthusiastic when it comes to English. :D
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