A reflection on war and quality writing
Books are a part of me, part of my life. They consume hours of my activity. I don't read merely to pass the time of day. I read to learn, to understand and even to search for kindred spirits. I have found all that in the French Nobel Prize for Literature, J.M.G.Le Clézio. If you haven't read any of his books, he is a must. He reaches out tirelessly to new sensations and places. He is fascinated by ethnic peoples, see his book The Mexican Dream. And in his Wandering Star he imagines with vividness the lives of two young girls, one a French Jewess and the other a Palestinian. Both are running away from persecution at the time of the Second World War. Le Clézio writes with tremendous insight and sensitivity as he describes Hélène trudging through the French Alps in a line of miserable souls to escape to Italy and her long wait before taking a boat to Israel. Nejma also is herded into an inhumane camp somewhere in the Palestinian desertland and hers is a story of survival amidst death and famine and destruction. His descriptions of both these journeys are utterly beautiful with intricate attention to the movements of nature, from animals, to streams of water, to clouds, to landscapes. He is an exceptional writer and deserves his accolade.
It was the time of the founding of the State of Israel, of the unrest in the arbitrary divisions of the Arab world made by outsiders. The tragedy of war, of how it affects people's lives. Will we never learn? Seventy odd years later that area of our globe is still battling ferociously and the local fighting is being encouraged by the chessboard of the world powers. World politicians seem to take decisions and make actions that drastically alter and harm the lives of so many. Their victims are the disinherited of the earth.
As a complement to Le Clézio's novel I am currently going through Edward Said's essay on the question of Palestine. This man was a truly enlightened Christian Palestinian and dedicated much of his relatively short life to contributing towards the idea of peace between Palestinians and Israelies. Much of what he says concerning the determined oppression of the Palestinians in favour of the establishment of Israel is terrifying when we consider the crass mistakes made in favouring one side against the other, with dire consequences for the Arab population.
I am neither a politician nor an expert on these matters but I recognise the importance, from a very humble stance, of trying to keep abreast of human activity over different eras in different areas of the world.
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