Flight Paths

Hi Kate, you mention Islam, but you do not mention Hinduism, Jainism (my God, the first Jain temple consecrated in the Western world is situated right on the DMU doorstep, just outside Sue’s office), Buddhism, Sikhism, to name a few of the religions that can be found on the Indian sub-continent). I wondered why you had singled out Islam? Of course, I can probably guess, but were the people who actually died all Muslim? Might be worth checking this point. For a definition of the countries included in the Indian sub-continent see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_sub-continent

Secondly, I hope you don’t mind me mentioning this, but is Sainsbury’s chipping in as a sponsor? Perhaps it should, because the store could obviously get a fair bit of good PR out of this (as long as the project does not swing out in a controversial direction). Product placement/PR is now pretty much the name of the game these days.

Hi Mary – two good points.

The research I have done to date on the falling men suggests that, as far as is known, their flights all originated in Pakistan, which is a Muslim country. However, you are quite right to point out that it probably isn’t safe to assume all these men were Muslim. As you know, the West is currently obsessed with positioning Muslims as The Other. I am interested in works and discussions that arise to counteract this, but by focussing solely on Islam here, we might be missing a trick for the project overall, and falling into exactly the same trap as everybody else. Hmm. Interesting.

For the last twelve years I’ve been working on an as-yet-incomplete novel set in Egypt in 1863. One of the main characters is an Egyptian man. Maybe I was unconsciously drawing on the research and thinking I’ve done for that project when thinking about ‘Flight Paths’.

With regards to Sainsbury’s – we need to tread cautiously here, and are not sure yet what direction to take. Obviously, we would like to involve Sainsbury’s; in particular I would like to involve people who work at the Richmond Sainsbury’s – and we also hope to start a discussion about creating a memorial of some kind in the parking lot. But we have yet to work out a strategy, as neither Chris nor I have any experience working with that kind of large corporation. Need to figure out the right approach. More when we have it.

Kate

PS You are the first person to add a comment, other than myself and Chris!!!! Thanks!!!

Hi Kate, thanks for the response. I have to say that I don’t think it is a good idea to single out Islam because then I do think you risk presenting Muslims as “The Other.” Also, according to various sources I’ve checked Pakistan is approx. 96 per cent Muslim, so not all of the fallen men may have been Muslim. Wikipedia, for example, says: “There are small non-Muslim religious groups: Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Parsis, Bahá’ís and others {make up] 3%.” It’s also possible that not all these men were even Pakistan nationals, but from some other (neighbouring) country.

Of course, I appreciate that you are writing a piece of fiction. Sorry, but I get a bit anal at times about giving accurate facts (it’s the journalist in me). I think in many ways that these men who fell from the plane represent the plight of every illegal alien seeking “comfort, money, freedom or whatever” in the West. I feel sorry that they think happiness is to be found in the industrialized world. Often these people are just exploited as cheap labour in rich countries and are the targets for rascist attacks. I won’t even get into the enormous culture shock they must suffer, the endless misunderstandings, and the terrible homesickness they must suffer for their homeland and a familiar culture.

Your Egypt novel sounds fascinating, and I would love to know more about it. I lived in Egypt for over a year, but not in 1863. I was there back in the early 1980s. As I’m sure you know, Egypt has a Coptic Christian community (the Copts being really the true descendants of the Ancient Egyptians, as well as a very small Jewish community. Not sure this is the venue for you to spill the beans about your Egypt novel. If not, perhaps you could send me a BB message. Curiously yours, Mary x

Sounds interesting. One of the first things that came to mind reading the concept and also the Egypt idea, was the novel ‘arabian days and nights’ by Naguib Mahfouz, who I only discovered when staying in Egypt, despite him having been awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in the 80’s. His ‘flight paths’ cross cultures, classes and generations, and your one, Kate, is a sort of modern update of that. I even think that the discussion on being muslim or not demonstrates how we silence diversity rather than embrace it.
It would be great to illustrate how there is ultimately no such thing as the victim or the host, just two sides of a coin, and the contrast of the two characters could make that work really well.
It also reminds me of Nick Hornby’s book ‘how to be good’. One of my all time favourites!
mags

I’ve read a lot of Mahfouz, though not the book you refer to Mags – he gives a vivid picture of life in Cairo, in his famous Cairo trilogy, though I find his actual writing style slightly hard work… but as it is in translation it’s hard to make that kind of comment stick. Haven’t read that Hornby, though probably should! Kate

I picked up How To Be Good in a second hand store recently – will try to read it asap! Thanks Mags.

Hi, Kate and Chris–

The project looks good so far, and ambitious (for sure, it will raise the bar on what a novel can be). I will be popping in and out as you progress. Best of luck to you!!

Here’s an interesting website – http://www.artsandislam.com/

Hey Kate and Chris,

I just wanted to write as I just registered and say that I am so excited for this project and happy that I found it. I am working on a thesis looking at how the blog can change literature, suggesting that a new medium be established here. Your network novel is proving to be an excellent example of what a blog and a community can do with fiction.

I look forward to contributing,
Huysmans

Dear Huysmans –

Thanks for registering, and for registering your interest in our project! We’ve been doing a bit of backend business of late and will be moving the homepage of the site to a format that, we hope, will be clearer for potential participants.

Onward for the conversation!

best – Kate