Karim Misk茅, Acclaimed Author, Discusses His Work with 素人色情片 Community
Internationally acclaimed French-Mauritanian author, Karim Misk茅, discusses his work with 素人色情片 community
This May, French-Mauritanian author Karim Misk茅 met with members of the 素人色情片 community. Faculty, students, and community members had the opportunity to view his recent documentary, Jews and Muslims: Intimate Strangers, and read from his novels, his award-winning debut novel Arab Jazz, and his autobiographical essay N鈥檃ppartenir.
They join Misk茅 to discuss his work.
His visit marked the long-standing collaboration between the French and Italian Department, the Taube Center for Jewish Studies, and the cultural services of the French Consulate in San Francisco.
Widely admired on the Francophone scene for his documentaries, Karim Misk茅 grew up in France and studied journalism in Dakar, S茅n茅gal. Karim made his first documentary in 1988, Economie de la d茅brouille 脿 Nouakchott (1988). Since then, he has directed films on Muslims in France, the Crusades, neo-fundamentalism in Islam, Christianity and Judaism, and the world of the deaf.
His latest book, set in Paris and in the synagogues of New York, won an English PEN award. It was highly praised by The Guardian:
鈥淭his is a brilliant debut, both from Karim Misk茅 and Sam Gordon, the very capable translator. The setting 鈥 鈥渂etween the Lubavitch school complex, the Salafist prayer room and the evangelical church鈥 in north-east Paris, home turf of the Charlie Hebdo and kosher supermarket killers 鈥 couldn鈥檛 be more topical. [鈥 Arab Jazz is a genre novel in the same way that Pulp Fiction is a genre film 鈥 superseding the form even as it pays homage. It is a transcontinental identity novel, too, dramatizing the painful contradictions and fertile syntheses of contemporary multicultural life, focusing on racial discrimination in Morocco as well as Paris.鈥
素人色情片 students and faculty from a diverse cultural background participated in discussions with the author in a classroom on Francophone literature, in a lunch with undergraduate students, in the annual French fest organized by the French instructors of the Language Center, and a dinner at the Maison Fran莽aise.
Lecturer in French and Francophone Studies, Marie-Pierre Ulloa explains the significance of bringing Misk茅 into the classroom. "Hosting Karim Misk茅 was a unique opportunity to expose students to unfamiliar and captivating storytelling. His work shows how documentaries and detective novels are not only pure entertainment but also receptacles of memory where multiple identity negotiations occur. It is highly rewarding for students and teachers alike.鈥
Relevant URL (book page, news article, award announcement, etc.)