Laila Lalami

Wired Magazine reports that legislation that would allow viewers to automatically skip over what is considered “objectionable content” in DVDs passed through the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property and looks to be “on the fast track”

The legislation would essentially affirm the legality of software such as ClearPlay, which automatically edits supposedly objectionable scenes out of popular movie titles. Several DVD players now come ClearPlay-enabled and work with more than 1,000 movie titles.

Some Hollywood directors and studios have complained that such filtering violates their copyright by altering their works without permission. S167/HR357, however, would sanction the practice.

And if it can soon be done with movies, how long before it happens with books?

Thanks to David for the link.

The women-only Orange Prize turns 10 this week. Geraldine Bedell does a great job of weighing all the arguments on the question of whether the prize constitutes discrimination. Here’s a bit about the history of the prize:

The plan for a women’s fiction prize emerged out of a series of meetings between publishers, authors, agents, booksellers and journalists in the wake of the 1991 Booker shortlist, which featured no women. (Margaret Atwood and Angela Carter were among the eligible females.) No statistics existed, but this omission was felt to be something of a habit.

Where women did appear, as Michele Roberts did on the Booker shortlist and Kate Atkinson on the Whitbread, both in 1992, they were seen as the female contender, their chances discussed in terms of their gender – as if, says the novelist Kate Mosse – who would become the force behind the Orange Prize – ‘they were somehow representative of the entire sex.’

But shortly after the prize was announced (and quickly endowed with a substantial amount by an anonymous donor) opposition mounted. Male critics cried foul, citing the prize as “PC discrimination.”

Opposition was not restricted to men, or tabloid reporters. ‘I am against positive discrimination,’ said Anita Brookner, a Booker winner. ‘If women want equality, which they do, and which they have largely achieved, they shouldn’t ask for separate treatment … If a book is good, it will get published. If it is good it will get reviewed.’

In the week of the Orange launch, one broadsheet newspaper carried 20 reviews, 19 of them on books by men. Women publish about 70 per cent of novels in Britain. Were they so bad?

These sorts of things continue to happen, even though many positions in publishing are held by women, and even though the vast majority of readers are women. Bedell presents both sides of the argument, but fails to take a clear stand–she simply says that prizes that last resonate with the public, and so far this one has. What do you think? Does the Orange Prize constitude discrimination? Or should the Man Booker, Whitbread, Pulitzer, and other awards be held accountable for their failure to recognize women in a fair way? Send your thoughts to llalami AT yahoo DOT com, with the subject line “Orange Prize.”

Tom Reiss’ The Orientalist continues to collect glowing reviews. The latest is from the Seattle Times‘ Jerome Weeks:

What he actually was, Reiss argues, is a rarity nowadays, a Jewish Orientalist. It’s a modern myth that Jews and Muslims have always been at war. For centuries, they often were the best interpreters of each other. Nussimbaum was so in love with his dream of pashas and turbans that he came to live inside it. But he finally, sadly, was unable to escape that dream, as World War II erupted around him.

Reiss has uncovered diaries and letters and Nazi collaborators. He takes us with him as he follows shadowy leads through the streets of Vienna, interviewing relatives and publishers. It may be part detective yarn, part author biography, part travel saga, but “The Orientalist” is completely fascinating.

Hassan Benjelloun’s latest movie, Derb Moulay Chrif (La Chambre Noire/The Black Room), has won second place in Africa’s biggest film competition, Fespaco 2005, which was held this year in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The film is based on Jaouad Mdidech’s autobiographical book about the quasi-systematic torture of leftist students and activists in 1970s Morocco. (Top prize was taken by Drum, directed by Zola Maseko and starring Taye Diggs.) An interview with Derb Moulay Chrif‘s Hanane Ibrahim appears here. Despite direct criticism of the late king’s regime, the movie received some state funds, and was shown in theatres across the country.

No, not that kind. An excerpt of Christopher Hitchens’ introduction to a new edition of Isabel Allende’s The House of The Spirits appears in last Saturday’s Guardian.

Gaza Blues, the collection of short fiction by Samir Al-Youssef and Etgar Keret that I’ve mentioned before, gets the Daily Star treatment.

“The idea for the book came up in the beginning of 2002,” explains Keret, also speaking via e-mail. “There wasn’t a day without casualties both on the Palestinian and the Israeli side and things seemed even more hopeless than they usually are in our region. Samir called me and, like me, he was very depressed. He said that we [could] do something. I said to him jokingly that there is very little the two of us are able to do except write stories … A day later Samir called back with the idea for ‘Gaza Blues.’”

Keret insists that the point of the book is not to make a difference in grand terms. “Gaza Blues” is not an achingly idealistic attempt to broker an Arab-Israeli peace through literature. Rather, it carves out intimate space where as yet unexplored dimensions of the conflict may be probed. It resists falling prey to identity politics, and as such it appeals to anyone who might feel compelled to take a deep and weary breath before answering such questions as “What are you?” or “Where are you from?” Moreover, “Gaza Blues” is marked throughout by dark humor, touches of surrealism, and hip urban language.

“Our collaboration is meant to refer to a different area in the Palestine/Israel issue,” says Youssef. “And different means that which is deliberately overlooked and marginalized such as, in my case, the reality of the fragmentary nature of Palestinian society. There isn’t only one Palestinian society but many and different, and that’s why the Palestine/Israel issue is not limited to a certain geography or history.”

And still no U.S. publisher. What a shame.

The winners of the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Awards have been announced. They are John Dalton for Heaven Lake (fiction) and Alison Smith for Name All the Animals (non-fiction).

I was saddened by this news report about the death of 37 people off the coast of Morocco. The would-be migrants had used the city of Al-Hoceima as a departure point, instead of leaving from Tangier, which is approximately 10 miles away from Spain. They wanted to avoid the radar systems recently put in place by the EU, but their route was much further away, and many of them drowned. The details in the report were eerily similar to some I had imagined for my book. One passenger, for instance, had a university degree in mathematics, and had tried everything he could to find a job. He paid the exorbitant sum of $6,000 in order to try his luck on a boat, hoping to find a job in Europe. One of my characters, Murad, has a similar background, and the same notion that immigration will help him solve his problems. His belief is of course, based on the stories he hears from those who’ve made it:

Amidst such problems some emigrants return on holidays to show off, Nadif said. “They drive around in fancy cars with Italian number plates. They make Europe sound like an El Dorado.”

“I know Europe is not a paradise,” says Farid, a 25-year-old with a degree in French literature. “But I do know a European can find a job with one of my degrees.”

But stories like this one, of people drowning or ships sinking, slip by without registering on anyone’s mind for too long. It’s like the lottery. No one thinks of the losers. It’s much too comforting to think of the winner.

That’s it for me this week. The one and only Randa Jarrar takes over tomorrow and every Friday. Have a great weekend!

This week, I’d like to give out a copy of Best American Erotica 2005, edited by Susie Bright. One of the reasons I picked up this book is because it contains “Surviving Darwin,” a poignant and funny story by Alicia Gifford, who is, in my opinion, the best writer you don’t know about.

I’ll send a copy of the book to the first person who emails me at llalami AT yahoo DOT com. Please provide your mailing address.

Update: The winner is Roneesh V. from Sydney, Ohio. Congratulations!