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"representative?"
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From: Marc Aronson <aronson.marc_at_gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 08:40:51 -0400
I understand Dr. Aziz's concern that young people have access to such a limited set of images of global Muslim life in general, and the many and varied aspects of urban, intellectual, Pakistan in particular. However I do not agree that any book or set of books has the obligation to "represent" the social reality of anything. A book is the individual creation of an individual author -- authors who are endlessly enjoined to "write what you know." Suzanne based her books on her many years as an overseas reporter -- on people she met and lives she explored. As teachers we may well want to share a wide variety of sources with readers, but that has nothing to do with how we judge authors and books.
If a writer has an obligation it is to the particular experience she is exploring and rendering -- whether that is a Communist family in Iran as in Persepolis or a nomadic family in Pakistan as in Shebanu. The more such individual explorations we have, the more rich and complex our vision of a culture, nation, society. But we can never judge an individual vision by a social average -- that is the opposite of art.
Marc Aronson
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Received on Wed 13 Aug 2014 07:41:25 AM CDT
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 08:40:51 -0400
I understand Dr. Aziz's concern that young people have access to such a limited set of images of global Muslim life in general, and the many and varied aspects of urban, intellectual, Pakistan in particular. However I do not agree that any book or set of books has the obligation to "represent" the social reality of anything. A book is the individual creation of an individual author -- authors who are endlessly enjoined to "write what you know." Suzanne based her books on her many years as an overseas reporter -- on people she met and lives she explored. As teachers we may well want to share a wide variety of sources with readers, but that has nothing to do with how we judge authors and books.
If a writer has an obligation it is to the particular experience she is exploring and rendering -- whether that is a Communist family in Iran as in Persepolis or a nomadic family in Pakistan as in Shebanu. The more such individual explorations we have, the more rich and complex our vision of a culture, nation, society. But we can never judge an individual vision by a social average -- that is the opposite of art.
Marc Aronson
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Received on Wed 13 Aug 2014 07:41:25 AM CDT
