Skip to main content

Hoopla logo
Browse
My Hoopla

Log In

Books, videos, and music - all free from your public library!

Ebooks
Comforting Myths

EBOOK

Comforting Myths

Concerning the Political in Art

Rabih AlameddineSeries: Kapnick Foundation Distinguished Writer-in-Residence Lectures

(0)

Pages

96

Year

2024

Language

English

University of Virginia Press

Footer

Hoopla logo, Go to homepage

For Patrons
For Libraries (opens in new window)
For Vendors (opens in new window)

Facebook (opens in new window)
X (opens in new window)
Instagram (opens in new window)
YouTube (opens in new window)
TikTok (opens in new window)
LinkedIn (opens in new window)

Our Company

Our Story
Get Hoopla for your Library (opens in new window)
Get your content on hoopla (opens in new window)
Join our team (opens in new window)
Accessibility Statement

Our Content

Audiobooks
Ebooks
Movies
Television
Comics
BingePasses
Music
The Loop Blog

Help

Help Center
Submit Feedback

Facebook (opens in new window)
X (opens in new window)
Instagram (opens in new window)
YouTube (opens in new window)
TikTok (opens in new window)
LinkedIn (opens in new window)

Download on the App Store (opens in new window)
Get it on Google Play (opens in new window)
Available at Amazon Appstore (opens in new window)

© 2026 Midwest Tape, LLC. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

About

A timely and urgent inquiry by one of global literature's leading lights

In this concisely argued and illuminating book, the PEN/Faulkner Award–winning author Rabih Alameddine takes the subject of politics and art head-on, questioning the very premise of dividing these two pillars of culture into an either/or proposition. He reveals how a political dimension enlarges a work of art rather than making it less beautiful or reducing it to a polemic, as we are so often and carelessly taught. But he also ponders what makes art political to begin with: how essential is the artist's conscious political intent, and what does the reader or viewer contribute to the work's political capability or significance? In exploring these questions, Alameddine engages intensely with his role as an immigrant and a gay author writing inside a globally dominant, often oblivious culture, and invokes the work of numerous writers, from Tayeb Salih and Aleksandar Hemon to Teju Cole and Salman Rushdie, who also struggle to be heard as something more than an "other." The book features throughout Alameddine's brilliantly relatable voice-shrewd, humorous, challenging, and as honest about his own limitations as he is about his passions.

Related Subjects

Nonfiction (incl. Memoirs)
Writing
Language Arts & Disciplines
Adult Nonfiction
Fiction Writing
Culture, Race & Ethnicity
Subjects & Themes
Literary Criticism

Extended Details

SeriesKapnick Foundation Distinguished Writer-in-Residence Lectures

Artists

Rabih AlameddineAuthor

Similar Artists

Deborah Smith
Elena Ferrante
Hisham Matar
Louise Murphy
Maggie Nelson
Viet Thanh Nguyen