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« Gorman v. Web 2.0 | Main | Hodgman on Duty » Monday, June 18, 2007Scheherazade schtickIran, formerly known internationally as Persia, accused Britain this weekend of insulting Islam by awarding a knighthood to Salman Rushdie. In 1989 the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a death warrant against Rushdie because the British-Indian writer's 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses" seemed to suggest -- in a series of dream-within-dream sequences, and without ever using the words "Muhammad" or "Islam" -- that the prophet Muhammad founded Islam after smoking hashish and experiencing drug-induced hallucinations. "Honoring and commending an apostate and hated figure," an Iranian spokesman, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, said on Sunday, will put British officials in a position "of confrontation with Islamic societies." Yikes! What, one wonders, would Hosseini, et al., think of "1001," playwright Jason Grote's funny, moving, postmodernist-in-a-good-way take on "The Arabian Nights"? The play, which premiered in Denver earlier this year, and which I've just finished reading, flashes back and forth between a very contemporary New York love story (involving an Arab woman and a Jewish man) and the classic Persian fable of Scheherazade.  Like Scheherazade's tales, "1001" is endlessly compelling, and also endless (again, in a good way): A single actor, for example, plays The One-Eyed Arab (a stock character in Hollywood depictions of the Middle East, hearty and eloquent: think John Rhys-Davies as Sallah, in "Raiders of the Lost Ark"); Sindbad, who recounts the wonders he's seen on his voyages, including Ikea furniture; the Voice of Alan Dershowitz, heaping abuse on a campus campaign to get universities to disinvest in Israeli companies; and the Djinn, who forces an Aladdin-like character to choose between the woman he loves and preventing 9/11 from happening. You can catch "1001" in July, at the Contemporary American Theatre Festival in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Wish I could be there! PS: Speaking of Aladdin and the Djinn, I am thrilled to announce that the 1937 children's book "The Land of Green Ginger," by Noel Langley, has been reissued in a high-quality softcover edition by the Boston-based press David R. Godine. Based on the 1975 edition of the book, with illustrations by the great Edward Ardizzone, "Green Ginger" tells the story of Abu Ali, precocious son of Aladdin himself, and his adventures with Boomalakka Wee, the hapless son of the Genie of the Lamp. One of the great children's books!  Posted by Joshua Glenn at 01:00 PM
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