Arts in the Pandemic Age
Covid-19 shows no sign of abating, forcing cities and some countries into more quarantines and further lockdown; without music, cinema, literature and artistic events, how long can we hold on?
Covid-19 shows no sign of abating, forcing cities and some countries into more quarantines and further lockdown; without music, cinema, literature and artistic events, how long can we hold on?
In this wide-ranging essay, the writer revisits life before and after the civil war, participates in Lebanon's revolution, imagines the country's monetary implosion, and contemplates the Port of Beirut explosion—all while weighing the social terms of Lebanon's political renewal.
Overcome by the staggering violence of the explosion that ravaged Beirut in August, Paris-based playwright and director Wajdi Mouawad suggests that a world public forum must condemn Lebanon's ruling class.
The Chileans hold up a paradoxical mirror to us: they show us the worst of ourselves (the carelessness of our institutions and the contempt for the living that characterizes our addiction to the tragic) and the path to follow: respect for life until its last breath.
Maalouf draws a line from pivotal years in Middle Eastern history to some of the most pressing dilemmas currently facing humanity.