As the author of six critically acclaimed novels, including the 2022 PEN/Faulkner award winning ‘The Wrong End of the Telescope’, Rabih Alameddine is no stranger to the living art of storytelling. His work explores worlds that may seem beyond words, everything from civil war to exile and epidemics, and yet finds the words we need to hear. Now teaching literature at Georgetown University, Alameddine delves into the next generation of writers. He speaks with Georgina Godwin on his writing career, his upbringing and future plans for his art. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Hello and welcome to Meet the Writers.
My guest today is a Lebanese American painter and writer.
As the author of six critically acclaimed novels, including the 2022 PEN Faulkner Award winning the Wrong End of the Telescope, he's no stranger to exploring the world's beyond words from civil war to conflicts and epidemics.
Now he's currently the Lannan Foundation Visiting Chair at Georgetown University.
And that's where I caught up him.
Rabi Alameddine.
Welcome to Meet the Writers.
Well, thank you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for having me.
Now, you were born in Jordan of a Lebanese family.
Your family were Druze.
Tell me about what Druze actually means.
Oh, good question, because if I knew, I'd be probably a much better interviewee.
The Druz, basically, we are an offshoot of Ismailis, who are an offshoot of the Shiites, who are an offshoot of Islam, basically.
Except that we shot so far that all religions consider us heretics, which is a lovely place to be when you're trying to write.
But primarily in Arabic.
The Druze are called Al Muwahidun, which means the Unitarians, basically, and they tried to unify religion.
The reason we're considered heretics is we included some Hindu stuff, which, like, we believe in reincarnation or they believe that all the prophets are the prophets, all the holy books are everybody's holy books.
But I think what was helpful for me growing up in a Druze household was that we didn't have clerics or priests, because the belief is that nobody can interpret the word of God except you.