DSW, #67
Eric Arthur Blair, better known to the world as George Orwell, critic of Soviet communism, born Motihari, India, 25 June 1903; died London, England, 21 January 1950.
(In his review of Nick Cohen’s new book, Christopher Hitchens mentions “pseudo-radicals who said there was nothing to choose between Nazi imperialism in Europe and British rule in India”. Is this a reference to Orwell’s ‘Not Counting Niggers?‘, or to something else?)
What’s remarkable in that review is the last paragraph:
In one telling example, Cohen cites the work of Iranian feminist Azar Nafisi, who three years ago dedicated her book Reading Lolita in Tehran to Paul Wolfowitz. “By 2003 it was no longer surprising that an Iranian feminist should turn to an American neoconservative,†Cohen writes pointedly, “for where else was she to look for support?â€
This story comes from Hitchens himself, and he knows it isn’t true, as Nafisi wrote to him to tell him.
↓ Quote | Posted 21 January, 2007, 10:59 amIs it remarkable any more that people like Hitchens say things they know to be false? I’m not sure it is. But yes, you’re quite right. Or – better – I think you’re almost quite right: I thought AN wrote to Doug Ireland and Danny Postel on the matter, not directly to Hitchens.
Details over here:
↓ Quote | Posted 21 January, 2007, 11:13 amhttp://direland.typepad.com/direland/2004/10/azar_nafisi_rep.html
You’re right, but I’m easily shocked.
She did write to D.I and D.P, but also in her letter to D.I, she says:
“I would like to bring to your attention that many people in my acknowledgments do not have a last name, and as I mention in my note to Mr. Hitchens, these acknowledgements were personal tributes to individuals who came from very different political spectrums and held opposing political views, and my one time association with them in no way reflects my political biases, and if others do not respect my wish for privacy I have to respect it myself and not give in to pressure and innuendos.
↓ Quote | Posted 21 January, 2007, 11:23 amOh, I see. Yes. Sorry. Can’t read, all of a sudden.
↓ Quote | Posted 21 January, 2007, 11:32 amAnd there’s a follow-up here:
http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2007/01/hitchensnafisi_.html
↓ Quote | Posted 22 January, 2007, 10:44 amAnd now see here, again:
http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2007/01/hitchensnafisi_.html
Apparently Matthew is right to be shocked; it is Cohen who is incompetent, rather than Hitchens who is lying.
↓ Quote | Posted 23 January, 2007, 12:14 am