Fall2008-IslamMedia&TheWest

on the role of (american) TV in the Arab world: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/01/business/media/01soft.html?_r=2

*off topic*

Well, in case anyone was wondering (and I don't know if anyone was), my novel is actually related to our class discussions. It follows three characters: A Russian, an American (both men) and an Iranian woman. The novel will explore the futility of a unilateral world, the problems presented by orientalism and 'the clash' and to a lesser degree how the media helps perpetuate it. There will also be a more personal dimension to the relationship between the Russian and the American and how that becomes even more complex once the Iranian woman enters their lives.

The novel has no narrator. Instead the story unfolds by jumping back and forth from the perspectives of the three main characters and watch how each of them processes essentially the same events but draw incredibly different conclusions from them. And I wouldn't be a good MCC student if I didn't include excerpts from the media of that world presenting its own take on the events in the story (TV News, Talk shows, blogs, Newspaper articles, etc.).

The goal of my book is to present the reader the trees and have them build the forest for themselves. I'm doing my best to make each side have its positive and negative traits to make them equally viable perspectives. Essentially none of them are villains (or perhaps all of them are, if you want to play devil's advocate). Each side views themselves as being justified in their objectives at first, but the world becomes more and more grey. They all believe that they are doing what's right, but all of their actions have effects on the world (some more devastating than others).

It began as a series of short stories in my fiction class this semester. I will be writing the novel during winter break and next semester. Don't be surprised to see it at a bookstore near you (although I might be).