Dinaw Mengestu Asks “How Should the Stories of Migrants Be Told?” in a Review of The Silence of the Choir for the New York Times
“At some point in recent history, the merits of reading literary fiction became inextricably entwined with the genre’s potential to instill empathy,” writes Dinaw Mengestu, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of the Humanities and director of the Written Arts Program, for the New York Times. In a review of The Silence of the Choir by Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, which tells the story of 72 migrants in a fictional village in Italy, Mengestu argues that the form of the novel—which utilizes third-person narration alongside monologues, historical interludes, and dialogues—may be more important to the conveyance of its themes than the story itself. “Characters aren’t revealed so much as they are refracted through different narrative lenses,” Mengestu writes. “It’s only fitting that a novel so concerned with how we read, interpret, and respond resists easy attachment (or aversion) to its characters.”
Post Date: 05-22-2024
Post Date: 05-22-2024