Thomas Mann was a great German writer of the early 20-th century. One of his stories was about a young scholar who idolized his professor/mentor. That professor was at the pinnacle of his field, a genius who combined unbounded knowledge, dazzling intelligence, wisdom, and rationality. One time the young scholar was at his mentor’s house when he accidentally stumbled on a shameful secret about the great professor. It was shocking that such a revered person would be engaged in something so disgraceful. The story deals with the psychological upheaval that engulfed the young man as a result of that awful discovery.
I recently had an experience, not quite that bad, but similar in a sense. I found on Facebook a gifted writer who combines the solidity of language and the clarity of thought, an enlightened outlook and a graceful style. I devoured his articles one after the other, clicking ‘like’ without hesitation. Then I stumbled on a piece of news buried among the articles that showed him as a member of something called “Egyptians for Trump”.
What *** ****!? How is that possible? How can a bright thinker be a Trump supporter!? I know what you’re thinking – there are 75 million people out there who are Trump supporters. Sure! In fact, some of them are my friends – they are wonderful, church-going, conservative, people. But none of them can be accused of being an intellectual, let alone a thinker . As a matter of fact, what unites them is contempt for thinkers and intellectuals.
Another case of ‘what *** ****!?’ comes to mind. When I read the novel ‘The Yacoubian building’ by A. Al-Aswany I thought “this guy is definitely Nobel-Prize material.” A couple of years later came Tahrir Square, and everybody in Egypt started speaking their mind. One fellow wrote that “Copts are our brothers and everything; the only problem is that they smell bad.” Mr. Al-Aswany rose to the defense of national unity. Without disputing the original point, he explained that the bad smell does not come from the Copts’ religion, but rather from the kind of food they eat. Thanks dr. Aswany!
In any case, Thomas Mann deservedly received the Nobel Prize in the 1920s. Regardless of your position on Trump or the Copts, if you like literature, you will probably enjoy reading his novels and short stories. As far as Al-Aswany – after that first hit his subsequent novels were nothing to write home about.
يمكنك دعم الموقع من هنا
مؤسسة ندى لحماية الفتيات
Beautiful (as usual)
المصريون المؤيدون لترامب لهم دوافع مختلفه تماما عن الناخبين الامريكيين..
كانت رؤاهم ان الرجل يساعد ويناصر مصر وخاصه فى موضوع سد النهضه..
الفكره كانت كما قالها تشرشل..نحن نتحالف مع الشيطان لتحقيق النصر..
لم يكن الأمر متعلق بصفات ترامب الشخصيه ولا بموقفه من الديمقراطية الحقيقيه ولا…الخ.
كلنا كدولجية كنا مؤيدين لترامب لان الديمقراطيين هم من قاموا بدعم الربيع الاخوانجي ثم ان ترامب لم يقم بأي ضغوط علي مصر بعكس الدميقراطيين الذين حركوا اساطيلهم لضرب مصر دعما للاخوانج !!
I for one never thought of Aswany as Nobel Prize material. I read The Yacoubian Building and was mildly amused. I read his short stories was disgusted by the obscenity, enough to drop it. I tried reading his The Automobile Club and was disappointed by the cliches and lack of originality. I stopped after some 30 pages.
Nice article
Egyptians for T***, that’s insane regardless of what he promised or was perceived to be supportive of our cause
As for Mr Aswani, I read the book and saw the movie, I was shocked,is this Egypt that I know???
Unfortunately racism is very rampant in Egypt and it’s a shame that they label our brothers and sisters as smelly 🥵
ترامب يمقت الاخوان و مموليهم من أوباما و ادارتة…….نحن ايضا.
الاسواني اخوانجي يتجمل….و شيئ اخر…..و يفعل اي شئ ليحصل علي نوبل …و قد وعد بها…لكنه فشل فيما نجحت توكل و زمرتها في اليمن….
المهم …لقد وعد بها
First, only uninformed and immature people can admire Trump-like leaders. And some very intelligent people are immature. A number of cultured peplo are drawn to eccentric people who appeal to their hopes and dreams. This is both surprising and diappointing. Second, It was the only fall of Aswany, who is agreat liberal activist, secularist, and patriotic activist but not a great novelist. He wrote a best seller because of his gift as suspense maker and page turner. His style is average or less in spite of exciting plots in his novels. Yet I love his courage as an opposition anti-dictator figure, secularist, and, despite his slip of toungue is not biased or Islamist. He will possibly write another best seller but will not be praised by critics.
All Democrats and polititians in USA hated Ikhwan but our people appeared to the West as dreaming of religiuos rule and Mubarak and foreign intelligence organizations and Ikhwan’s diplomatic skill led Obama-H. Clinton team accept to deal with them until their predicted fast collapse.
إن كل ممن “انتظروا” ترامب أو بايدن، لا ينظرون أبدا لتصرفاتهم الشخصية، و لا يخطر ببالهم أن كل من بطليهما لا يملكان القدرة على التغيير الجذري..
عاشقى ترامب سواء كراهة فى الاخوان، أو انتظارا لطوق النجاة بخصوص سد النهضة، أو كونه يدغدغ مشاعرهم الدينية بتظاهره بالتدين، يتغاضون عن نزقه و صفاقته، و انحيازه لإسرائيل..
و المتطلعين لتحقيق أهدافهم تحت حكم بايدن، سواء مكسيكيين، أو اخوان -كلاهما من المتدينين- يغضون النظر عن تأييده للمثلية، و لإسرائيل “أحفاد ال…. فى نظر الاخوان”…
و فى النهاية كلاهما يعمى عينيه عن حقيقة أن المؤسسية الأمريكية لها خط و نوته موسيقية، للعازف أن يجود، لكنه لا يخرج عن التون