Word: fiction
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...vividly remember my first Superman comic, which my granddad bought me when I was about 7. From that point on, all I wanted to do is draw comics. And specifically, superhero and science fiction comics. Basically I used to copy comic books, and draw my own comics on scrap paper. But I had an education which was rather hostile to that, because I was quite clever at school, and I could do other things like physics and chemistry and stuff, and so I got kind of sidetracked...
...study of religion on America's campuses has become a right-wing pinata. In the full understanding that they are swimming against the cultural, if not the academic, stream the folks at the new Institute pulled out Rushdie, who, although he is not one of their faculty members, writes fiction that acknowledges the centrality of faith to culture without the author's pious participation. From his astounding breakthrough work, Midnight's Children, through his current The Enchantress of Florence, he has been obsessed with both formal and informal belief, but from the point of view of a highly-educated Muslim...
...with regard to Islam, whose understanding of the Koran as an inerrant divine document dictated by an angel to the prophet Mohammed makes any Muslim study of its non-supernatural origins almost impossible. One of the several things that offended Khomeini was The Satanic Verses' willing creation of a fiction around precisely that historical process. But in some ways historical research is more threatening than invention. "There is so much contemporary scholarship about the origins of Islam," Rushdie said, pointing out that Mohammed lived well within the historical era. "If you insist that the text is the uncreated word...
...that is well past the age of reason, and they are caught up in situation that would force anyone to acquire a shrewdness well in advance of their years. I don't know if a movie as simpleminded and emotionally shameless as this one definitively proves that fiction is not a suitable vehicle for the consideration of crimes as vast as the Holocaust. But it will do until the next historical travesty comes along...
...democratic system.His offbeat academics tend to be endearing if egotistical, and Poundstone captures the intriguing dynamics that characterize both their personal lives and their work.On the other hand, Poundstone’s politicos, with notable exceptions, tend toward corruption and megalomania. He spends ample time discussing the stranger-than-fiction behaviors of Nader and Ross Perot, and also sheds light upon more obscure third-party candidates. Perhaps most memorable are Kinky Friedman, a Jewish country singer who made a run for Texas governor in 2006, and Ilona Staller, an Italian porn star who was elected to Italy?...