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The Body and Seven Stories
The centrepiece of Hanif Kureishi's brilliant new collection of fiction delves into the fascinating concept of personal identity, and the extent to which this is rooted in our physical being.
Middle-aged playwright Adam is amazed to be approached by a shadowy organisation and offered the chance to trade in his decrepit body for a much younger model. He takes up the offer for a six-month period, and his consciousness is duly transplanted into the handsome body of his choice. But Adam soon finds that his new flesh brings with it grave and unforeseen dangers . . .
Middle-aged playwright Adam is amazed to be approached by a shadowy organisation and offered the chance to trade in his decrepit body for a much younger model. He takes up the offer for a six-month period, and his consciousness is duly transplanted into the handsome body of his choice. But Adam soon finds that his new flesh brings with it grave and unforeseen dangers . . .
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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939 people want to read
About the author
Hanif Kureishi
129 books1,130 followersHanif Kureishi is the author of novels (including The Buddha of Suburbia, The Black Album and Intimacy), story collections (Love in a Blue Time, Midnight All Day, The Body), plays (including Outskirts, Borderline and Sleep With Me), and screenplays (including My Beautiful Laundrette, My Son the Fanatic and Venus). Among his other publications are the collection of essays Dreaming and Scheming, The Word and the Bomb and the memoir My Ear at His Heart.
Kureishi was born in London to a Pakistani father and an English mother. His father, Rafiushan, was from a wealthy Madras family, most of whose members moved to Pakistan after the Partition of India in 1947. He came to Britain to study law but soon abandoned his studies. After meeting and marrying Kureishi’s mother Audrey, Rafiushan settled in Bromley, where Kureishi was born, and worked at the Pakistan Embassy.
Kureishi attended Bromley Technical High School where David Bowie had also been a pupil and after taking his A levels at a local sixth form college, he spent a year studying philosophy at Lancaster University before dropping out. Later he attended King’s College London and took a degree in philosophy. In 1985 he wrote My Beautiful Laundrette, a screenplay about a gay Pakistani-British boy growing up in 1980’s London for a film directed by Stephen Frears. It won the New York Film Critics Best Screenplay Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay.
His book The Buddha of Suburbia (1990) won the Whitbread Award for the best first novel, and was also made into a BBC television series with a soundtrack by David Bowie. The next year, 1991, saw the release of the feature film entitled London Kills Me; a film written and directed Kureishi.
His novel Intimacy (1998) revolved around the story of a man leaving his wife and two young sons after feeling physically and emotionally rejected by his wife. This created certain controversy as Kureishi himself had recently left his wife and two young sons. It is assumed to be at least semi-autobiographical. In 2000/2001 the novel was loosely adapted to a movie Intimacy by Patrice Chéreau, which won two Bears at the Berlin Film Festival: a Golden Bear for Best Film, and a Silver Bear for Best Actress (Kerry Fox). It was controversial for its unreserved sex scenes. The book was translated into Persian by Niki Karimi in 2005.
He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours.
Kureishi is married and has a pair of twins and a younger son.
Kureishi was born in London to a Pakistani father and an English mother. His father, Rafiushan, was from a wealthy Madras family, most of whose members moved to Pakistan after the Partition of India in 1947. He came to Britain to study law but soon abandoned his studies. After meeting and marrying Kureishi’s mother Audrey, Rafiushan settled in Bromley, where Kureishi was born, and worked at the Pakistan Embassy.
Kureishi attended Bromley Technical High School where David Bowie had also been a pupil and after taking his A levels at a local sixth form college, he spent a year studying philosophy at Lancaster University before dropping out. Later he attended King’s College London and took a degree in philosophy. In 1985 he wrote My Beautiful Laundrette, a screenplay about a gay Pakistani-British boy growing up in 1980’s London for a film directed by Stephen Frears. It won the New York Film Critics Best Screenplay Award and an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay.
His book The Buddha of Suburbia (1990) won the Whitbread Award for the best first novel, and was also made into a BBC television series with a soundtrack by David Bowie. The next year, 1991, saw the release of the feature film entitled London Kills Me; a film written and directed Kureishi.
His novel Intimacy (1998) revolved around the story of a man leaving his wife and two young sons after feeling physically and emotionally rejected by his wife. This created certain controversy as Kureishi himself had recently left his wife and two young sons. It is assumed to be at least semi-autobiographical. In 2000/2001 the novel was loosely adapted to a movie Intimacy by Patrice Chéreau, which won two Bears at the Berlin Film Festival: a Golden Bear for Best Film, and a Silver Bear for Best Actress (Kerry Fox). It was controversial for its unreserved sex scenes. The book was translated into Persian by Niki Karimi in 2005.
He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2008 New Year Honours.
Kureishi is married and has a pair of twins and a younger son.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 118 reviews
January 17, 2018
Imagine if you were elderly and offered the opportunity to have your brain transplanted into a younger body for a brand new chance of life...
Would you take it?
Adam -- an elderly playwright who has achieved much success with his writing and who loves his wife, Margot and their son -- is met with this opportunity at a party.
After telling his family that he is going on a six-month sabbatical to travel. He decides to accept the offer and undergoes the procedure of having his brain transplanted into 'a newbody'.
Adam has his pick from an archive of newbodies. (younger people who have died or been murdered).
He doesn't have to pick a male newbody. He can pick a female newbody.
(Depending on whether he wants to experience giving birth).
The newbody Adam ends up choosing is called Leo.
He is "classically handsome with a thick penis and heavy balls". Meow.
Adam spends his first several months as Leo -- partying, taking drugs and fucking women (and men). He travels, dances and works as a catwalk model.
Tiring of that lifestyle. Adam ventures to an island where he gets a physical laboring job at a spirituality centre.
As a playwright, he never had the opportunity to experience using his physical body...and gets the job to explore those feelings.
Look, there are some poignant scenes in this book that I will NEVER forget.
He runs into his elderly wife as this young handsome newbody....and the scene had me in tears.
He asks her all the questions he SHOULD HAVE asked her as a husband.
He LISTENS to her.
But most bizarrely he kisses her (she's unaware that it's her husband Adam and thinks he's a young man called Leo).
Can you imagine the stuff that would bring up within? Talk about a conundrum! Wow.
But 'he' (Adam/Leo) actually sees his wife Margot for the first time. Really SEES her for who and what she is.
I won't spoil the ending.
But in all honesty, I feel I was shortchanged.
In this youth-obsessed world that we live in -- books like this need to be written.
Kureishi could have gone into intricate details. He could have explored so much more with this subject.
It was an AMAZING concept and in this horrifyingly scary world of Kardashians and Trump...
It wouldn't surprise me, if they try to do this later down the track...
...long after I'm pushing up daisies.
This is my third or fourth read of Kureishi's and I love how he makes me think....
But yeah...disappointing ending!
PS:
Actually, scrub that.
It's not the ending that is disappointing. I just think MORE should have come before the ending.
It felt like a sketch rather than a fully formed story.
Would you take it?
Adam -- an elderly playwright who has achieved much success with his writing and who loves his wife, Margot and their son -- is met with this opportunity at a party.
After telling his family that he is going on a six-month sabbatical to travel. He decides to accept the offer and undergoes the procedure of having his brain transplanted into 'a newbody'.
Adam has his pick from an archive of newbodies. (younger people who have died or been murdered).
He doesn't have to pick a male newbody. He can pick a female newbody.
(Depending on whether he wants to experience giving birth).
The newbody Adam ends up choosing is called Leo.
He is "classically handsome with a thick penis and heavy balls". Meow.
Adam spends his first several months as Leo -- partying, taking drugs and fucking women (and men). He travels, dances and works as a catwalk model.
Tiring of that lifestyle. Adam ventures to an island where he gets a physical laboring job at a spirituality centre.
As a playwright, he never had the opportunity to experience using his physical body...and gets the job to explore those feelings.
Look, there are some poignant scenes in this book that I will NEVER forget.
He runs into his elderly wife as this young handsome newbody....and the scene had me in tears.
He asks her all the questions he SHOULD HAVE asked her as a husband.
He LISTENS to her.
But most bizarrely he kisses her (she's unaware that it's her husband Adam and thinks he's a young man called Leo).
Can you imagine the stuff that would bring up within? Talk about a conundrum! Wow.
But 'he' (Adam/Leo) actually sees his wife Margot for the first time. Really SEES her for who and what she is.
I won't spoil the ending.
But in all honesty, I feel I was shortchanged.
In this youth-obsessed world that we live in -- books like this need to be written.
Kureishi could have gone into intricate details. He could have explored so much more with this subject.
It was an AMAZING concept and in this horrifyingly scary world of Kardashians and Trump...
It wouldn't surprise me, if they try to do this later down the track...
...long after I'm pushing up daisies.
This is my third or fourth read of Kureishi's and I love how he makes me think....
But yeah...disappointing ending!
PS:
Actually, scrub that.
It's not the ending that is disappointing. I just think MORE should have come before the ending.
It felt like a sketch rather than a fully formed story.
January 20, 2016
The Body
A theory loving friend of mine once argued that the notion of portraits or the concept of ‘physical self’ must have developed around the same time as the invention of mirrors in the sixteenth century. This led me to wonder how people had considered their own image, face, and body; and appreciated the 'difference' from the other. Is this notion a reversal of the kind where instead of conscious awakening to the subjective sense of ‘I’, the accumulated sensations and objective bodily perceptions lead to a joyous eruption of self-awareness? Is that why everyone is laboring over their bodies, as if the mind’s longing and anxieties can be cured via the body? I would always argue against this, yet this book made me think through the story of Adam. Adam is an old and famous playwright who decides to trade his aged body for young flesh while preserving his brain in the new body. Kureishi narrates Adam's life from there on..
The first thing that Kureishi made me notice, though indirectly, was the idea of using the body as an ‘object’. Whereas, Adam’s monologue was about how important a young body is and he was rather drawn to the way youngsters accessorize their bodies. My perspective is that bodies can be ‘communicative in many ways’, they can be deceptive at the same time in giving away about your mood, your personality and anxieties- by the kind of tattoo you wear, what you expose, why must you expose, how much you groom….Some bodies are inviting, some repulsive and others discreet. In hindsight, if the book made me think this much, then I think Kureishi is praise worthy. And then, maybe I ought to ignore the little judgmental voice in my head that just loves to run its hypothetical mouth. I cannot stop mentioning that the book had some excellent sections and occasionally contemplative prose though, I could only grasp a fraction of Kurieshi’s idea behind this book. His science fiction plot of the book was a trial, and I endured it. In return of his torture with the obscurities and abstruse ending that distracted me from musing; I pour all of my anger in this review. Kureishi did not develop the plot as much and I found him skirting along the intricacies that the story deserved. If he was not interested in taking the story a bit seriously, he could have simply written an essay! Conclusively, I disagree with Kurieshi (Adam) on every thing!
I was particularly displeased with the Adam’s perspective of elderly-‘how young terrify the old with their incomprehensibly hip vocabulary and threatening presence’-which led him to get his brain surgically placed in a younger man's body. Actually, Kureishi attempted to build the idea of using the body as an object to buy youthful years. It led me to think how a possibility of extending life or staying alive or being young can make one’s present and past mundane. I wish, people (both young and old) could look beyond wrinkles, sagging flesh, clouded eyes and sparse hair; to the rich histories they have created and the tapestries of a life well lived and the adventures they will undertake which can keep them entertained for as long they live!
If you want to think as hard as I did for the sake of a review, you can read this book. The prose is noteworthy; the plot however, is flimsy. Not recommended.
A theory loving friend of mine once argued that the notion of portraits or the concept of ‘physical self’ must have developed around the same time as the invention of mirrors in the sixteenth century. This led me to wonder how people had considered their own image, face, and body; and appreciated the 'difference' from the other. Is this notion a reversal of the kind where instead of conscious awakening to the subjective sense of ‘I’, the accumulated sensations and objective bodily perceptions lead to a joyous eruption of self-awareness? Is that why everyone is laboring over their bodies, as if the mind’s longing and anxieties can be cured via the body? I would always argue against this, yet this book made me think through the story of Adam. Adam is an old and famous playwright who decides to trade his aged body for young flesh while preserving his brain in the new body. Kureishi narrates Adam's life from there on..
The first thing that Kureishi made me notice, though indirectly, was the idea of using the body as an ‘object’. Whereas, Adam’s monologue was about how important a young body is and he was rather drawn to the way youngsters accessorize their bodies. My perspective is that bodies can be ‘communicative in many ways’, they can be deceptive at the same time in giving away about your mood, your personality and anxieties- by the kind of tattoo you wear, what you expose, why must you expose, how much you groom….Some bodies are inviting, some repulsive and others discreet. In hindsight, if the book made me think this much, then I think Kureishi is praise worthy. And then, maybe I ought to ignore the little judgmental voice in my head that just loves to run its hypothetical mouth. I cannot stop mentioning that the book had some excellent sections and occasionally contemplative prose though, I could only grasp a fraction of Kurieshi’s idea behind this book. His science fiction plot of the book was a trial, and I endured it. In return of his torture with the obscurities and abstruse ending that distracted me from musing; I pour all of my anger in this review. Kureishi did not develop the plot as much and I found him skirting along the intricacies that the story deserved. If he was not interested in taking the story a bit seriously, he could have simply written an essay! Conclusively, I disagree with Kurieshi (Adam) on every thing!
I was particularly displeased with the Adam’s perspective of elderly-‘how young terrify the old with their incomprehensibly hip vocabulary and threatening presence’-which led him to get his brain surgically placed in a younger man's body. Actually, Kureishi attempted to build the idea of using the body as an object to buy youthful years. It led me to think how a possibility of extending life or staying alive or being young can make one’s present and past mundane. I wish, people (both young and old) could look beyond wrinkles, sagging flesh, clouded eyes and sparse hair; to the rich histories they have created and the tapestries of a life well lived and the adventures they will undertake which can keep them entertained for as long they live!
If you want to think as hard as I did for the sake of a review, you can read this book. The prose is noteworthy; the plot however, is flimsy. Not recommended.
November 11, 2015
توقعت أن أقرأ رواية مميزة بمستوى روايته "الحميمية".
لكني وجدت أن الحميمية أكثر عمقا.
قصة هذه الرواية "الجسد" تدور حول عملية سرية لنقل مخ رجل كبير السن إلى جسد شاب، الفكرة ليست جديدة رغم غرابتها، إذ سبق أن شاهدت مسلسلا مصريا قديم نسبياً، اسمه نقل مخ بطولة حسين فهمي ووائل نور. كما شاهدت فيلما أجنبيا قبل شهر يدور حول عملية نقل مخ رجل كهل إلى جسد شاب.
لعل أكثر ما كان ممتعا بالنسبة لي في الرواية هو اللحظة التي التقى فيها البطل بجسده الجديد، بزوجته العجوز التي لم تكن تعرف أن الشاب الذي ساعدها في حمل أغراضها وأوصلها إلى البيت كان زوجها، واستلطفت صنيعه معها، فأجابت عن أسئلته عن حياتها الشخصية، وبدأت تبوح له بأسرار علاقاتها السابقة التي لم يسبق أن حدثته عنها. لكن حنيفي لم يتوسع في هذه الجزئية، ولو أنه فعل لذلك لأعطى للرواية بعدا تشويقياً وإنسانياً أكبر.
الرواية جيدة في عمومها، لكن الكاتب أغفل جانبا طبيا مهما لم يتطرق إليه، وهو حالة الدماغ مع التقدم السن، حيث ركز على شيخوخة الجسد، وتعامل مع الدماغ على أنه يبقى على حاله دون تأثر رغم مرور الزمن.
لكني وجدت أن الحميمية أكثر عمقا.
قصة هذه الرواية "الجسد" تدور حول عملية سرية لنقل مخ رجل كبير السن إلى جسد شاب، الفكرة ليست جديدة رغم غرابتها، إذ سبق أن شاهدت مسلسلا مصريا قديم نسبياً، اسمه نقل مخ بطولة حسين فهمي ووائل نور. كما شاهدت فيلما أجنبيا قبل شهر يدور حول عملية نقل مخ رجل كهل إلى جسد شاب.
لعل أكثر ما كان ممتعا بالنسبة لي في الرواية هو اللحظة التي التقى فيها البطل بجسده الجديد، بزوجته العجوز التي لم تكن تعرف أن الشاب الذي ساعدها في حمل أغراضها وأوصلها إلى البيت كان زوجها، واستلطفت صنيعه معها، فأجابت عن أسئلته عن حياتها الشخصية، وبدأت تبوح له بأسرار علاقاتها السابقة التي لم يسبق أن حدثته عنها. لكن حنيفي لم يتوسع في هذه الجزئية، ولو أنه فعل لذلك لأعطى للرواية بعدا تشويقياً وإنسانياً أكبر.
الرواية جيدة في عمومها، لكن الكاتب أغفل جانبا طبيا مهما لم يتطرق إليه، وهو حالة الدماغ مع التقدم السن، حيث ركز على شيخوخة الجسد، وتعامل مع الدماغ على أنه يبقى على حاله دون تأثر رغم مرور الزمن.
March 15, 2017
The Observer review of this book states: 'The effect of reading [Kureishi] is cumulative: you are impressed with a certain intensity, and indeed integrity, of vision'. It just can't be put any better. This book explores the same themes as all his others: youth, hedonism, beauty, selfishness, fatherhood, romantic love. And rather than these themes wearing thin with repetition, you find that the more you read, the deeper he goes; the more he says, the more there is to say. The Body caught me by surprise, as I don't associate Kureishi with speculative fiction - but it's seamless and perfect. For humour, truth and a pageturner of a plot, he's always a sure bet.
October 6, 2024
okuldan muzaffer hocam “kapağı beğenmemişsin ama öyküyü okudun mu” diyince görev bilinciyle hemen başladım ve okudum.
açıkçası kitaba adını veren öykü “vücut” en sağlam öykü zaten. hatta bugün olsa roman diye ayrı bi kitap olarak basılır çünkü 157 sayfa.
dorian gray’in portresi’nden esintiler taşıyan hikayesiyle aslında hiç eskimeyecek konuya el atıyor hanif kureishi.
kitaptaki tüm öykülerde orta ya da üst orta sınıf, uzun yıllardır evli, çoluklu çocuklu sıkılmış ve sıkışmış çiftler var. bazıları sanatçı eskisi ki o zaman bunalım daha da derinleşiyor. işte bu öyküde eski ve unutulmaya başlamış bir yazara anısızın gelen bir teklif öyküyü hafif bilimkurguya dahil ediyor.
gençlik uğruna neleri göze alırsınız? temel meselemiz bu. açıkçası daha en baştan bizim yazarın bunu eline yüzüne bulaştıracağı belliydi. kararsızlık olmaması gerekiyor bu tip konularda, ya hep ya hiç. 6 ay diye istediği, sonrasında aşırı romantik bir biçimde karısını özlediği bu süreçte deneyimledikleri ise gerçekten iyi anlatılmış.
yakışıklı ve genç ama aynı zamanda olgun, kültürlü ve anlayışlı bir erkek olarak elbette kadınların gözdesi oluyor. yunan adasında (yüzyıl başlarındaki bu arınma tesisleri bugün bizde de çok fazla ve yazarın dalga geçişi hafiften hissediliyor) kadınların elinde oyuncağa dönüşebilecekken genç adalı erkeklerin nefretini kazanan bu yeni beden sadece fiziksel güzelliği için sevilmenin dezavantajlarını yaşıyor ve çabuk aklı başına geliyor.
fakat ne çare, yeni bedenlerin piyasası küçük, mafya büyük. bizim kararsız da karısını özlediğiyle kalacak belli ki.
bu öykü dışında “güle güle, anne” anne oğul bağına dair güzel bir öyküydü. “gerçek baba” ise yine bizim yeni yeni yaşamaya başladığımız korkunç çocukların çaresiz ebeveyni olmak temasını işlemiş erkenden. onu da sevdim.
açıkçası kitaba adını veren öykü “vücut” en sağlam öykü zaten. hatta bugün olsa roman diye ayrı bi kitap olarak basılır çünkü 157 sayfa.
dorian gray’in portresi’nden esintiler taşıyan hikayesiyle aslında hiç eskimeyecek konuya el atıyor hanif kureishi.
kitaptaki tüm öykülerde orta ya da üst orta sınıf, uzun yıllardır evli, çoluklu çocuklu sıkılmış ve sıkışmış çiftler var. bazıları sanatçı eskisi ki o zaman bunalım daha da derinleşiyor. işte bu öyküde eski ve unutulmaya başlamış bir yazara anısızın gelen bir teklif öyküyü hafif bilimkurguya dahil ediyor.
gençlik uğruna neleri göze alırsınız? temel meselemiz bu. açıkçası daha en baştan bizim yazarın bunu eline yüzüne bulaştıracağı belliydi. kararsızlık olmaması gerekiyor bu tip konularda, ya hep ya hiç. 6 ay diye istediği, sonrasında aşırı romantik bir biçimde karısını özlediği bu süreçte deneyimledikleri ise gerçekten iyi anlatılmış.
yakışıklı ve genç ama aynı zamanda olgun, kültürlü ve anlayışlı bir erkek olarak elbette kadınların gözdesi oluyor. yunan adasında (yüzyıl başlarındaki bu arınma tesisleri bugün bizde de çok fazla ve yazarın dalga geçişi hafiften hissediliyor) kadınların elinde oyuncağa dönüşebilecekken genç adalı erkeklerin nefretini kazanan bu yeni beden sadece fiziksel güzelliği için sevilmenin dezavantajlarını yaşıyor ve çabuk aklı başına geliyor.
fakat ne çare, yeni bedenlerin piyasası küçük, mafya büyük. bizim kararsız da karısını özlediğiyle kalacak belli ki.
bu öykü dışında “güle güle, anne” anne oğul bağına dair güzel bir öyküydü. “gerçek baba” ise yine bizim yeni yeni yaşamaya başladığımız korkunç çocukların çaresiz ebeveyni olmak temasını işlemiş erkenden. onu da sevdim.
August 27, 2017
بعض العقد الشخصية الموجودة عند بعض الادباء تنعكس على ماينتجون ..
الروايه كفكرة جيدة ان تحصل ع خبرتك الحالية بعمر السبعين و ان تحول هذه الخبره الى جسد شاب و جديد بحيث ممكن ان تستمع الى راي الاخرين بشخصك الاصلي بدون ان يعرفوا من انت من خلال نقل دماغك الحكيم بتجاربه الى جسد شاب ...
الفكرة جيدة التنفيذ لم يكن بالمستوى المطلوب او قد تكون الترجمه السيئة افضل ان اقرا النص بلغته الاصلية
تقيمي 2 و نص كلا النجمتين و النصف لجرئته الفكرة
الروايه كفكرة جيدة ان تحصل ع خبرتك الحالية بعمر السبعين و ان تحول هذه الخبره الى جسد شاب و جديد بحيث ممكن ان تستمع الى راي الاخرين بشخصك الاصلي بدون ان يعرفوا من انت من خلال نقل دماغك الحكيم بتجاربه الى جسد شاب ...
الفكرة جيدة التنفيذ لم يكن بالمستوى المطلوب او قد تكون الترجمه السيئة افضل ان اقرا النص بلغته الاصلية
تقيمي 2 و نص كلا النجمتين و النصف لجرئته الفكرة
January 30, 2012
...هل فكرت يوما ماذا يؤول إليه حالك حين يصبح جسدك عبئا عليك , حين يمتد بك العمر طويلا ويكون جسدك الذي حملك طويلا وأنت في موفور صحتك شبابك عافيتك ونشاطك مجرد جثة هرمة تتعثر بها فلا تعرف الأفراح طريقها إليك ! ويصبح عليك أنت أن تبحث عن الفتات منها هنا وهناك , حين تلتفت ستجد أن هناك الكثير من الأحلام التي خلفتها ورائك , وهناك الكثير من الأماني التي سعيت لتحقيقها لكن وقفت الظروف جدارا بينك وبينها , هل يمكن أن تتدارك كل هذا وقد وصلت إلى الأحاسيس التي تشعرك إنك خارج هذا العالم !
حنيف قرشي وجد الحل متجاوزا كل معضلات الشيخوخة فبدلا أن تستعد للموت عليك أن تستعد للحياة !
تحذير : قد تفسد هذه السطور عليك أحداث الرواية
تدور الرواية حول الكاتب و العالم المحاضر المشهور آدم المثقل بالشيخوخة يتقابل مع شخص من الماضي يعرض عليه عرضا بالغ السخاء وهو أن يستبدل جسده ليستدرك ما فاته وهو شاب ! هذه التجربة الغريبة لم يكن لتمر على هذا العقل الذي ألف العديد من الكتب العلمية والفلسفية , دون أن يخوض غمار هذه الرحلة !
يصف حنيف في روايته الجسد رحلة هذا الكاتب المسن في عرض مشوق للأفكار والاستعدادات التي خاضها ��دم لينتقل إلى جسد آخر غريب عنه تماما !
ينتقل آدم في رحلة خيالية تنسلخ فيها روحه وعقله لتحل في جسدا آخر ويخرج للحياة من جديد متناسيا زوجته وأولاده بعد أن يقرر أن يخوض التجربة لفترة ستة أشهر يقرر بها مدى رغبته في العودة لجسده القديم الذي سيظل ينتظره في ثلاجة تشبه ثلاجات الموتى , لقد رسم الراوي شخصيتين متناقضتين تماما ولكنها سكنت في نفس الجسد مابين جسد عالم سقيم وآخر جميل متناغم راغب في الحياة !
لم يحسب آدم أن الجسد الآخر كان له معارف ومحبين قد يلتقي بهم صدفه , لكنه يتجاوز هذه المعضلة و تبقى المعضلة الرئيسية في السرد وهي ماذا سيفعل بجسده الجديد الجذاب , والذي يسرق أنظار كل من تقع عليه عينيه , يعيش آدم شعور الشباب بعقله القديم ويخوض كل التجارب التي حرمها على نفسه وهو زوجا وأبا وفيا , يصبح الجنس همه الأساسي , وكيف يمتع جسده وبأي طريقة كانت , حتى لو كانت شاذة عن المألوف , آدم لايتوقف بل يزداد فجورا ورغبة !
لم يتبقى لآدم سوى شهران ونصف على هذه التجربة النادرة التي جعلته يكتشف الكثير من الأشياء التي كان يحول بينها عقله التقليدي القديم , هذا الجسد الجديد جعل آدم ينظر إلى الأمور بنظرة الشباب التي عجز عن فهمها وهو رجلا مسنا , تضطره الظروف لكي يبحث عن عمل يستكمل به ماتبقى له من فترة التجربة فيلتحق بمركز نسائي يزعم إنه يعيد الشباب للنساء الذين يعانون من تفسخ المدينة , يعمل كخادم لهؤلاء النسوة في جزيرة حققت له جانب كبير من السكينة واهتمام النسوة التي قل حظهن في هذه الحياة لتبدأ بعد ذلك مغامرات في قمة التشويق ومع توالي الكثير من الأحداث والحوارات الممتعة يقرر آدم الفرار بجلده وتعتريه فرحة من ألق الماضي تومض في كل أنحاء جسده الجديد ولكن إلى أين ومم يفر آدم ّ! وهل يعود لجسده القديم الذي أشتاق إليه !
الجسد رواية شيقة , وهذاالانتقال الجسدي جعلني في أحايين كثيرة أشعر أنني أرى فيلما سينمائيا من إخراج أحد مبدعي هوليود وبعد توالي الصفحات استطعت أن استوعب ماذا يريد أن يقول الرواي في هذه الرواية المدهشة والتي مزج فيها ما بين محال وواقع معتمدا على الجسد في الكثير من الإيحاءات والدلالات !
كنتُ غريبا على الأرض و نكرة , لاشيء , لا أنتمي إلى مكان , جسد وحيد , محكوم عليه أن يبدأ من جديد في كابوس الحياة الأبدية *
فما معنى أن تصاب بالشيخوخة !
وهل ممكن أن تشيخ الروح في جسد عاجز !
,كيف ستتصرف وأنت ممتلىء بالإحساس بالحياة والأمل وكنت قد اقتربت كثيرا من النهاية والذبول !
ستخرج من هذه الرواية وأنت تتحسس أجزائك وتحمد الله على ما لديك
سيعلمك حنيف كيف تكون حريصا على ما تملك
وربما تقرر أن تستمتع بالحياة قبل أن يسقط في يديك !
September 15, 2013
From the greatest writers I expect to be revolutionary, unconventional, to shake me, make me think about something I have never though about.... To make me change myself, or to give me a completely new perspective of an old dilemma. To push the boundaries. To be 1000 steps ahead of me.
That's why I like Kureishi. His books have traces of that. He's playing with tricky, delicate questions.
This book is about our relationship with our body, what it means for our lives. How the way we see us, and the way others see us affects who we are, our identity. Then, how we discover other people and world through bodies. What is life like when we are healthy, young and beautiful, and how cruel old-age is. How difficult facing the death is. As well as many other things, sex, drugs, journeys, hedonism, all kind of experiences that enrich and shape us... And, of course, feelings and responsibilities that are among all that. There are very few things in life that mean all. Just because we feel so.
***
It is so easy and so difficult at the same time, to live more today, to appreciate life, to be aware of every luck that we have and that is slowly slipping out of our hands. Why do we realize what's important only when it's gone?
***
"Da biste imali dobar brak, morate posedovati dar za svu složenost intimnosti i larvalne promene: morate želeti, na primer, da zajedno sanjate. (...) Bili smo potrebni jedno drugom, Margot i ja, ali nismo želeli da brak pretvaramo u zatvor više nego što je to neophodno."
"Oduvek sam, kao nešto što se podrazumeva, smatrao da sam pre svega ličnost i da je to dobro. Sada sam otkrio da sam pre svega telo, telo koje nešto želi."
"U životu postoje trenuci od koji postajete zavisni, želite da se stalno vraćaju, ali onda osećate frustraciju kada više niste u stanju da nastavite, kada ono što ste najviše želeli počne da izaziva dosadu."
"Uprkos svemu, u trenucima trezvenosti želeo sam da budem u blizini svoje žene. Voleo sam da je posmatram dok ide po kući, da slušam kako se svlači, da dodirujem njene stvari. Dok je ležala u krevetu i čitala, njušio sam je po celom telu i mrdao nosem kao stari pas. Još je nisam obišao sa svih strana. Telo joj se opuštalo i boralo, boja mu se menjala, ali ja je nikada nisam ni želeo zbog toga što je bila savršena, već zato što je bila ona."
"Ne znam što bismo morali da poznajemo sebe ili jedni druge." -- "A šta drugo nam preostaje?" -- "Možemo da uživamo jedni u drugima." -- "Za mene uživati znači poznavati."
"Uradio bi to? Nemaš nikakvih sumnji? -- "Kakvih sumnji?" -- "U sebe. U to za šta si sposoban? To te čini različitim od mnogih ljudi. Od većine zapravo." -- "Da, rekao sam, imam i ja sumnje, ali im ne dozvoljavam da me ometaju u pravljenju grešaka."
That's why I like Kureishi. His books have traces of that. He's playing with tricky, delicate questions.
This book is about our relationship with our body, what it means for our lives. How the way we see us, and the way others see us affects who we are, our identity. Then, how we discover other people and world through bodies. What is life like when we are healthy, young and beautiful, and how cruel old-age is. How difficult facing the death is. As well as many other things, sex, drugs, journeys, hedonism, all kind of experiences that enrich and shape us... And, of course, feelings and responsibilities that are among all that. There are very few things in life that mean all. Just because we feel so.
***
It is so easy and so difficult at the same time, to live more today, to appreciate life, to be aware of every luck that we have and that is slowly slipping out of our hands. Why do we realize what's important only when it's gone?
***
"Da biste imali dobar brak, morate posedovati dar za svu složenost intimnosti i larvalne promene: morate želeti, na primer, da zajedno sanjate. (...) Bili smo potrebni jedno drugom, Margot i ja, ali nismo želeli da brak pretvaramo u zatvor više nego što je to neophodno."
"Oduvek sam, kao nešto što se podrazumeva, smatrao da sam pre svega ličnost i da je to dobro. Sada sam otkrio da sam pre svega telo, telo koje nešto želi."
"U životu postoje trenuci od koji postajete zavisni, želite da se stalno vraćaju, ali onda osećate frustraciju kada više niste u stanju da nastavite, kada ono što ste najviše želeli počne da izaziva dosadu."
"Uprkos svemu, u trenucima trezvenosti želeo sam da budem u blizini svoje žene. Voleo sam da je posmatram dok ide po kući, da slušam kako se svlači, da dodirujem njene stvari. Dok je ležala u krevetu i čitala, njušio sam je po celom telu i mrdao nosem kao stari pas. Još je nisam obišao sa svih strana. Telo joj se opuštalo i boralo, boja mu se menjala, ali ja je nikada nisam ni želeo zbog toga što je bila savršena, već zato što je bila ona."
"Ne znam što bismo morali da poznajemo sebe ili jedni druge." -- "A šta drugo nam preostaje?" -- "Možemo da uživamo jedni u drugima." -- "Za mene uživati znači poznavati."
"Uradio bi to? Nemaš nikakvih sumnji? -- "Kakvih sumnji?" -- "U sebe. U to za šta si sposoban? To te čini različitim od mnogih ljudi. Od većine zapravo." -- "Da, rekao sam, imam i ja sumnje, ali im ne dozvoljavam da me ometaju u pravljenju grešaka."
Read
August 8, 2011Kureishi uses sci-fi as a way to explore some of the philosophical questions that haunt all his work: What is my relationship to my body? To your body? How necessary is the pursuit of pleasure? How can we come to terms with old age? Can I reinvent myself? How much of myself do I owe my partner? In other words, Who am I? "The Body" is different from his other work in style as well as genre. The style is almost contemporary Japanese, like Haruki Murakami or Banana Yoshimoto. (It actually reminds me quite a bit of that sci-fi novel by Ishiguro about the forced organ donation, but this is more psychological.) The writing here is spare, the focus narrow, it's not populated with the usual slew of crazy characters, nor is it set primarily in London. Here an aging writer tells his wife he's going on vacation and has his brain transplanted into a young, hunky body. An old soul peers out from the body of a male model. It's fascinating, thrilling, and ghastly. Kureishi takes us exactly where we would wish to go: he meets friends of his old body; he meets friends who knew the original inhabitant of his new body; he makes love to young, sexy women and to a flabby, old feminist full of pent-up longing; he befriends a young girl who is uneasy in her body and cuts herself; he visits his wife, incognito, in his new body. The book evolves into a kind of thriller, but I found the ending too neat and tidy, a bit of a cop out. I wanted him to return to his old life for good--in either body, it wouldn't matter--and see what wisdom he's gained from his adventure. But Kureishi always writes his own life, and he's obsessed with questions, tormented by irreconcilable paradoxes, and in his life he left his old partner and children for a new, young partner. He doesn't pretend to have the answers, and for that I'm grateful.
May 26, 2023
Un incipit intrigante, pieno di potenziale, denso di problematizzazione. Una narrazione, centrale, vuota, improvvisamente estranea alle domande di ricerca iniziali. Una conclusione che torna parzialmente sulla buona strada, ma poi rimane in sospeso: perché trovare un finale a un romanzo breve sembra uno spreco di fatica, lasciate tutto aperto sembra invece un sintomo di arguzia.
Un uomo, scrittore, si lancia nell'avventura di un trapianto di corpo, per scoprire se la sua identità sia definita solo dal cervello o anche dall'abito che indossa. Questo si racconta nei primi tre capitoli, il resto è evitabile.
Un uomo, scrittore, si lancia nell'avventura di un trapianto di corpo, per scoprire se la sua identità sia definita solo dal cervello o anche dall'abito che indossa. Questo si racconta nei primi tre capitoli, il resto è evitabile.
June 4, 2018
Hanif Kureishi ‘The Body’
Stories of love and redemption
Adam is an old man, aware of the decay of his body and of all the bodies around him. He also believes that the body and the soul are not two ways of describing the same thing, namely a human being, but distinct, separate entities. One night, at a party, he is told of a London clinic that is pioneering a new, expensive technique transplanting an individual's brain - and thus his essence - into a younger, fitter body of his choice. Adam seizes the opportunity to escape his own decay, but only on a short, six-month "lease". He wants a holiday from his aging body, so that he can later reflect on the meaning of deterioration.
His phoney youth turns out to be a nightmare of loneliness, mechanical sexual experimentation and bad jobs. Real youth requires innocence, or at least ignorance, and what Adam finds he values most is his knowledge of the world and the world's knowledge of him.
Assuming the identity of an itinerant backpacker, Adam sets off on a tour of Europe, where he goes to clubs and experiments with drugs. He eventually settles, amid a group of bohemian women, on a remote Greek island. But increasingly he feels a prisoner inside his own body and longs not only to return to his old life with his wife in London, but to his old body as well.
The melancholy of "The Body" carries over into the other stories in this collection: about a son who can't forgive his dying mother, a father who can't live with his son, a couple who meet their doppelgängers and can't bear to see their life as it really is. Yet these are blissfully readable cautionary tales, wittily and often movingly crafted. In each case, a little bit of love and redemption are allowed to creep in. Children are not quite condemned to repeat their parents' mistakes; a father comes to understand the anger of his son; Adam gradually understands that his old body - and therefore his mortality - should have been a source of affection. These are small but significant victories marked out in a lonely world.
In the story 'The Real Father', a film editor takes his young son on a trip to the English seaside. The man, Mal, and the boy scarcely know each other. They have certainly never lived together - the boy was the result of a brief, casual relationship many years before. Mal tries forlornly to buy his son's affection. They take a room together in a boarding house and, once his son is asleep, Mal wanders down to a beachside bar where he meets some youths gathered around a boom-box. They offer him some whisky and urge him to dance. It is years since he has danced, and even then he did not dance so much as 'pogo'. Yet as he is drawn towards the music, Mal finds himself beginning to hop and then to pogo, 'alone of course, jumping up towards the sky'. The next morning, he discovers that things are a little easier with his son, as if that moment of heightened self-abandon the previous night has awakened something in him, a subdued sense of fellow feeling and inchoate love for the boy.
It is hard to explain why exactly Hanif Kureishi is such a good writer, because his sentences are often very ordinary. Rather, the effect of reading him is cumulative: you are impressed by a certain intensity, and indeed integrity, of vision. He can be very cold and cruel; but at the same time he understands essential truths about the drift and lassitude of modern life in cities. His is a fiction of wintry interiors, of emotional dislocation and of strangers seeking comfort with one another.
Stories of love and redemption
Adam is an old man, aware of the decay of his body and of all the bodies around him. He also believes that the body and the soul are not two ways of describing the same thing, namely a human being, but distinct, separate entities. One night, at a party, he is told of a London clinic that is pioneering a new, expensive technique transplanting an individual's brain - and thus his essence - into a younger, fitter body of his choice. Adam seizes the opportunity to escape his own decay, but only on a short, six-month "lease". He wants a holiday from his aging body, so that he can later reflect on the meaning of deterioration.
His phoney youth turns out to be a nightmare of loneliness, mechanical sexual experimentation and bad jobs. Real youth requires innocence, or at least ignorance, and what Adam finds he values most is his knowledge of the world and the world's knowledge of him.
Assuming the identity of an itinerant backpacker, Adam sets off on a tour of Europe, where he goes to clubs and experiments with drugs. He eventually settles, amid a group of bohemian women, on a remote Greek island. But increasingly he feels a prisoner inside his own body and longs not only to return to his old life with his wife in London, but to his old body as well.
The melancholy of "The Body" carries over into the other stories in this collection: about a son who can't forgive his dying mother, a father who can't live with his son, a couple who meet their doppelgängers and can't bear to see their life as it really is. Yet these are blissfully readable cautionary tales, wittily and often movingly crafted. In each case, a little bit of love and redemption are allowed to creep in. Children are not quite condemned to repeat their parents' mistakes; a father comes to understand the anger of his son; Adam gradually understands that his old body - and therefore his mortality - should have been a source of affection. These are small but significant victories marked out in a lonely world.
In the story 'The Real Father', a film editor takes his young son on a trip to the English seaside. The man, Mal, and the boy scarcely know each other. They have certainly never lived together - the boy was the result of a brief, casual relationship many years before. Mal tries forlornly to buy his son's affection. They take a room together in a boarding house and, once his son is asleep, Mal wanders down to a beachside bar where he meets some youths gathered around a boom-box. They offer him some whisky and urge him to dance. It is years since he has danced, and even then he did not dance so much as 'pogo'. Yet as he is drawn towards the music, Mal finds himself beginning to hop and then to pogo, 'alone of course, jumping up towards the sky'. The next morning, he discovers that things are a little easier with his son, as if that moment of heightened self-abandon the previous night has awakened something in him, a subdued sense of fellow feeling and inchoate love for the boy.
It is hard to explain why exactly Hanif Kureishi is such a good writer, because his sentences are often very ordinary. Rather, the effect of reading him is cumulative: you are impressed by a certain intensity, and indeed integrity, of vision. He can be very cold and cruel; but at the same time he understands essential truths about the drift and lassitude of modern life in cities. His is a fiction of wintry interiors, of emotional dislocation and of strangers seeking comfort with one another.
July 11, 2024
ماذا إن أثقلك جسدك بكل مافيه من ترهل وعياء وتفسخ ، وأعيتك الشيخوخة وهرمها وكوابيسها ، وأرقتك الأمراض وداهمتك في كبرك، فجاءت لك فرصة استبدال هذا الجسد بآخر فتي وشاب ومنحت لك فرصة الاندماج في جسد آخر لفترة من الزمن ، فأجسامنا هي مراكز انطلاق حواسنا، ��تفاعلنا ومصدر لكثير من إلهاماتنا، ولكنها قد تخذلنا في كبرنا، وتنأى عن أرواحنا المتشبثة بالحياة في شيخوختنا، فلا نعود نتذوق طعم الفتوة والعنفوان كما كان ذلك متاحًا لنا في زمن مضى، فتقضنا الشيخوخة بهواجيسها وتقذفنا في هوة القلق والشك والخوف وتتصارع معنا رغباتنا التي نبذناها في فترة ما من حياتنا لنتفرغ لمشاريعنا الكبرى في الحياة، مهملين أجسادنا وبالتالي أنفسنا المرتبطة فيها إلى قاع لا يمكننا النجاة منه إلا بتجربة جديدة ..
هذه هي فكرة العمل التي تمجد فكرة الخلود في عقل الإنسان وأناه العلية وخوفه من الموت والهرم والشيخوخة التي تراود الإنسان كلما تقدم في العمر ، والتي كانت جدا عبقرية وابتدأت بداية كانت مشوقة وبها الكثير من الفلسفة والتشويق، ولكن للأسف فالعمل يتهاوى في منتصفه حتى نهايته بدون غور في أعماق شخصية البطل الكاتب الهرم الذي بمغامرة جسدية وقرار مفاجئ جريء ورغبة في عيش حياة أخرى جديدة متناقضة لما عكف عليه في أيام شبابه وفتوته ومن ثم شيخوخته أن يستبدل جسده المتهالك والهرم بآخر فتي ومثالي ومتناسق وذلك بمعاونة أحد أصدقاءه الذي أقدم على عرض فكرته فاستقبلها بدون شك ولا تردد ..
قد تكون لحظة لقاء كاتب المسرحيات آدم بجسده الجديد هي النقطة الفارقة في هذا العمل، فهو يحمل عقله الناضج معه، والمليء بالخبرات والقراءات واللقاءات والذكريات، ولكنه في جسد لفتى أيطالي شاب قد كان في حياته السابقة قبل موته عارض أزياء، وكل صفات الرجولة والوسامة الجسدية مكتملة فيه كالجسد المنحوت على يد أحد نحاتي إيطاليا فيتخذ لنفسه اسم ليو رافاييل ! ينطلق في رحلة جديدة مكتشفا عوالم جديدة من خلال السفر والتعرف على أصدقاء جدد والعمل في أعمال ما كان سيتبناها في حياة سابقة كاسرًا كل قواعده القديمة ومنطقه ووعيه بوعي جديد وأنا جديدة ومفاهيم جديدة .. فيا ترى كيف سيتعامل هذا الشيخ مع هذا الجسد الجديد والحياة الجديدة، وهل ستلاحقه ذكرى جسد الشاب وصورته وأصدقاءه ؟ كيف سيعيش هذه الوعي الجديد والحياة والتجربة الجسدية المتكاملة ، وهل سيأحذه التنكر لهذا الجسد الجديد بالحنين والرغبة والنوستاايجا لجسده القديم وأهله وعائلته وزوجته ؟ ماهي الميزات التي سيمنحها له هذا الجسد في مقابل السيئات التي ستترامى عليه؟ ماهي لحظة الإدراك الحسية والوجدانية والجسدية التي سيعيش معها هذا الكاتب متمثلة في ماضيه وما يعيش في حاضره؟ هل ستنقلب معاني الحياة والوعي والنضج والبطولة والخبرة في قلبه وعقله وهو بهذا الجسد الجديد؟! وهل لهذا الجسد بماضيه أثر على حياة الشيخ في واقعه الحالي ؟!
العمل لن يجيب عن كل هذه الأسئلة، وستبقى كثير من الإجابات ناقصة، فالعمل في منتصفه يتحول إلى الآيروس بشكل كبير وكأن كل ما كان ينقص هذا الكاتب البطل في شيخوخته وما يريد تعويضه أيام الشباب إلا الجنس والتفسخ والانحلال وحده ، ومن ثم ينقلب إلى بعض من المطاردات الأكشنية وينتهي بنهاية تفتح الكثير من التأويلات والتأملات لعلاقة الرجل بجسده الجديد والحياة الكابوسية الأبدية التي تنتظره ..
هذه هي فكرة العمل التي تمجد فكرة الخلود في عقل الإنسان وأناه العلية وخوفه من الموت والهرم والشيخوخة التي تراود الإنسان كلما تقدم في العمر ، والتي كانت جدا عبقرية وابتدأت بداية كانت مشوقة وبها الكثير من الفلسفة والتشويق، ولكن للأسف فالعمل يتهاوى في منتصفه حتى نهايته بدون غور في أعماق شخصية البطل الكاتب الهرم الذي بمغامرة جسدية وقرار مفاجئ جريء ورغبة في عيش حياة أخرى جديدة متناقضة لما عكف عليه في أيام شبابه وفتوته ومن ثم شيخوخته أن يستبدل جسده المتهالك والهرم بآخر فتي ومثالي ومتناسق وذلك بمعاونة أحد أصدقاءه الذي أقدم على عرض فكرته فاستقبلها بدون شك ولا تردد ..
قد تكون لحظة لقاء كاتب المسرحيات آدم بجسده الجديد هي النقطة الفارقة في هذا العمل، فهو يحمل عقله الناضج معه، والمليء بالخبرات والقراءات واللقاءات والذكريات، ولكنه في جسد لفتى أيطالي شاب قد كان في حياته السابقة قبل موته عارض أزياء، وكل صفات الرجولة والوسامة الجسدية مكتملة فيه كالجسد المنحوت على يد أحد نحاتي إيطاليا فيتخذ لنفسه اسم ليو رافاييل ! ينطلق في رحلة جديدة مكتشفا عوالم جديدة من خلال السفر والتعرف على أصدقاء جدد والعمل في أعمال ما كان سيتبناها في حياة سابقة كاسرًا كل قواعده القديمة ومنطقه ووعيه بوعي جديد وأنا جديدة ومفاهيم جديدة .. فيا ترى كيف سيتعامل هذا الشيخ مع هذا الجسد الجديد والحياة الجديدة، وهل ستلاحقه ذكرى جسد الشاب وصورته وأصدقاءه ؟ كيف سيعيش هذه الوعي الجديد والحياة والتجربة الجسدية المتكاملة ، وهل سيأحذه التنكر لهذا الجسد الجديد بالحنين والرغبة والنوستاايجا لجسده القديم وأهله وعائلته وزوجته ؟ ماهي الميزات التي سيمنحها له هذا الجسد في مقابل السيئات التي ستترامى عليه؟ ماهي لحظة الإدراك الحسية والوجدانية والجسدية التي سيعيش معها هذا الكاتب متمثلة في ماضيه وما يعيش في حاضره؟ هل ستنقلب معاني الحياة والوعي والنضج والبطولة والخبرة في قلبه وعقله وهو بهذا الجسد الجديد؟! وهل لهذا الجسد بماضيه أثر على حياة الشيخ في واقعه الحالي ؟!
العمل لن يجيب عن كل هذه الأسئلة، وستبقى كثير من الإجابات ناقصة، فالعمل في منتصفه يتحول إلى الآيروس بشكل كبير وكأن كل ما كان ينقص هذا الكاتب البطل في شيخوخته وما يريد تعويضه أيام الشباب إلا الجنس والتفسخ والانحلال وحده ، ومن ثم ينقلب إلى بعض من المطاردات الأكشنية وينتهي بنهاية تفتح الكثير من التأويلات والتأملات لعلاقة الرجل بجسده الجديد والحياة الكابوسية الأبدية التي تنتظره ..
July 30, 2014
What if you could have your brain transplanted into a younger body for a second chance at life?
Well, that's what this book explores. Adam is an aging playwright and teacher living in London who undergoes a pioneering medical "miracle" by having his brain transplanted into a dead, young body. He then leaves his home and family in London for six months to take a "vacation." What ensues is a hedonistic debauchery as he wanders through Europe encountering women and eventually ending up in a New Age feminist commune of middle-aged women undergoing middle-aged crises of various sorts.
It gets worse though, but I'll spare the details. This was an awesome book. I really enjoyed it and it kept me on my toes. It also touches on central themes like death and aging, sex and survival which are so much a part of the human condition.
The ending didn't quite amount to what I thought, and I could very easily see a sequel being written to tie off this work, but this was like Frankenstein's monster on the run. I really like this slightly sci-fi and somewhat philosophical piece of fiction asking the simple, yet essential question: If you could have eternal life, would you take it?
Well, that's what this book explores. Adam is an aging playwright and teacher living in London who undergoes a pioneering medical "miracle" by having his brain transplanted into a dead, young body. He then leaves his home and family in London for six months to take a "vacation." What ensues is a hedonistic debauchery as he wanders through Europe encountering women and eventually ending up in a New Age feminist commune of middle-aged women undergoing middle-aged crises of various sorts.
It gets worse though, but I'll spare the details. This was an awesome book. I really enjoyed it and it kept me on my toes. It also touches on central themes like death and aging, sex and survival which are so much a part of the human condition.
The ending didn't quite amount to what I thought, and I could very easily see a sequel being written to tie off this work, but this was like Frankenstein's monster on the run. I really like this slightly sci-fi and somewhat philosophical piece of fiction asking the simple, yet essential question: If you could have eternal life, would you take it?
May 31, 2017
I loved the first story in this book which was the longest one. A sci-fi, philosophical tale about our society, our relationship with our bodies and fear of aging. Sadly the other few just didn't resonate with me as much although they are well written.
By the way, I read the french version of this book and the translation feels very organic, hadn't I checked I would have thought it was originally written in this language.
I might read other works by this author as he clearly has the ability to captivate the reader and to challenge your thoughts.
By the way, I read the french version of this book and the translation feels very organic, hadn't I checked I would have thought it was originally written in this language.
I might read other works by this author as he clearly has the ability to captivate the reader and to challenge your thoughts.
August 29, 2019
Quite a short book but one that stays with you - imagine you can transplant your brain onto a (younger) body of your choice - speculative fiction which thoughtfully takes the reader through the implications using the example of a famous author in a gripping tale
Read
March 6, 2018Read for school. I honestly don't know what to make of this book, except that we are all obsessed with youthful, desirable and perfect bodies. I guess? The ending was so bleak.
July 20, 2022
Me encanta Kureishi y las mentes de sus personajes. Con protagonistas cuyos escapes se vierten al mundo tanto en las consecuencias de sus actos como en las reflexiones de sus monólogos interiores.
October 28, 2010
Adam is a famous playwright who is floundering through his twilight years. His body isn’t what it used to be, and neither is his patience. He isn’t dissatisfied with his life – he has children, a wife that still loves him, and he has succeeded in making a living, and a name for himself, from his creative works.
One night at a party, a young man tells Adam he is a big admirer of his work. He offers an opportunity to be young again by undergoing an operation that would transplant his brain into a brand new body. The young man underwent the procedure in order to be a stage actor, something he wanted to be in his previous ‘life’ but was too old when he discovered his passion for acting. Now with his younger body, he is achieving everything he never would have been able to in his old body.
Adam has already achieved success, but he gives into curiosity anyway and undergoes the procedure. He takes a six month sabbatical from his wife in which he tells her he’ll be traveling. At a rundown warehouse which houses a hidden surgical center, his brain is transplanted into the body of a tall, handsome young man.
The story was pretty interesting up until this point. Most of Adam’s adventures in his new body, however, felt like Cliffs Notes of what happened. Months of promiscuous sex and partying are summed up in one or two paragraphs. I never felt like I knew his real feelings about what it was like to inhabit this new body, or what his experiences meant to him. He seemed to be living a life that he was never able to before, but all the reader really learns of these experiences were that he mostly enjoyed them, and then became bored with them.
After his money runs out, Adam winds up working at a new-age therapy center, and this is where the story really seems to go off the rails. I won’t give anything away, but his time here, which takes up most of the rest of this short novel, seems to have little relation to the central question driving this story: what is it really like to live again in a younger body? Instead it seems to veer more to the growing culture of these secret body swap operations, and the dark intentions that could develop around such a reality.
To be fair, I enjoyed most of the book. There were many salient passages about getting older and the regrets and compromises that come with it. I will admit there is at least one passage that will influence me for some time. Right before he goes under for the operation, Adam admits to himself that he could easily die during the operation. In that moment he sees images of his children as babies, and he regrets not being more of a father to them, instead opting to do some ‘important’ work or another. Being the father of a young child, I couldn’t help but think about this part every time I saw my son, and it reminded me to really be involved in the moments I’m with him.
The other scenes that really worked were the ones in which he saw his wife while in his new body. It was an interesting way of seeing someone through someone else’s eyes, from a more removed viewpoint.
I’d say the first half of the book is worth a read since it’s short. The end just didn’t satisfy, as it seems to end before the story was finished. Maybe that’s the point, but to me it seemed to conclude with a theme that had only begun to develop in the last twenty pages or so.
I’ll also disagree with the other reviews on Goodreads in that this story is definitely not sci-fi. There are no scientific explanations given for the transplant procedure, and it’s clear that science has no driving force in this story except as a brief device to get one person’s brain into another’s body.
One night at a party, a young man tells Adam he is a big admirer of his work. He offers an opportunity to be young again by undergoing an operation that would transplant his brain into a brand new body. The young man underwent the procedure in order to be a stage actor, something he wanted to be in his previous ‘life’ but was too old when he discovered his passion for acting. Now with his younger body, he is achieving everything he never would have been able to in his old body.
Adam has already achieved success, but he gives into curiosity anyway and undergoes the procedure. He takes a six month sabbatical from his wife in which he tells her he’ll be traveling. At a rundown warehouse which houses a hidden surgical center, his brain is transplanted into the body of a tall, handsome young man.
The story was pretty interesting up until this point. Most of Adam’s adventures in his new body, however, felt like Cliffs Notes of what happened. Months of promiscuous sex and partying are summed up in one or two paragraphs. I never felt like I knew his real feelings about what it was like to inhabit this new body, or what his experiences meant to him. He seemed to be living a life that he was never able to before, but all the reader really learns of these experiences were that he mostly enjoyed them, and then became bored with them.
After his money runs out, Adam winds up working at a new-age therapy center, and this is where the story really seems to go off the rails. I won’t give anything away, but his time here, which takes up most of the rest of this short novel, seems to have little relation to the central question driving this story: what is it really like to live again in a younger body? Instead it seems to veer more to the growing culture of these secret body swap operations, and the dark intentions that could develop around such a reality.
To be fair, I enjoyed most of the book. There were many salient passages about getting older and the regrets and compromises that come with it. I will admit there is at least one passage that will influence me for some time. Right before he goes under for the operation, Adam admits to himself that he could easily die during the operation. In that moment he sees images of his children as babies, and he regrets not being more of a father to them, instead opting to do some ‘important’ work or another. Being the father of a young child, I couldn’t help but think about this part every time I saw my son, and it reminded me to really be involved in the moments I’m with him.
The other scenes that really worked were the ones in which he saw his wife while in his new body. It was an interesting way of seeing someone through someone else’s eyes, from a more removed viewpoint.
I’d say the first half of the book is worth a read since it’s short. The end just didn’t satisfy, as it seems to end before the story was finished. Maybe that’s the point, but to me it seemed to conclude with a theme that had only begun to develop in the last twenty pages or so.
I’ll also disagree with the other reviews on Goodreads in that this story is definitely not sci-fi. There are no scientific explanations given for the transplant procedure, and it’s clear that science has no driving force in this story except as a brief device to get one person’s brain into another’s body.
June 14, 2021
This is really a strange book. The version I read was a paperback with maybe ten short stories included. None of the short stories were very interesting and they seemed like exercises or throwaway material that was designed to suit tedious literary periodicals. I won't talk about them, but I'm happy to share some thoughts about the main attraction:
Firstly, twenty year olds are not actual demi-gods! They still require normal amount of sleep and they aren't universally sexually irresistible. The Body relies on the premise that the young are gods compared to the middle aged and it never quite stops feeling bonkers.
Secondly, I love the funny quips and one-liners. The dialogue is absolutely amazing.
Thirdly, the story doesn't quite know what it's trying to be. Good ideas are abandoned. New themes are introduced late in the story. By the end we're reading something that's more like a thriller. We have a bad guy who feels straight out of James Bond. This didn't bother me too much though.
Fourtly, why does Alicia want to have Matte's baby? It's out of character. What's her motive? Also what does this add to the story?
Fifthly, the protagonist chooses from bodies hanging in a cool room. Are they dead? Why would they be kept cold? Surely they're still living bodies? I know it's speculative fiction and not everything needs to be explained. However, it was weird and jarring to think that transplants were taking place into dead bodies. There wasn't a sufficient attempt to explain how this could work. Similarly it was rather bizarre that after the transplant there were essentially no signs of the operation.
Sixthly, nobody can travel around Europe and inflitrate different art scenes in just a matter of weeks. Being young and sexy doesn't automatically mean you know interesting people.
Despite these points which are mostly critical I suppose, I really liked this book. I wish it was longer and didn't end so abruptly.
Firstly, twenty year olds are not actual demi-gods! They still require normal amount of sleep and they aren't universally sexually irresistible. The Body relies on the premise that the young are gods compared to the middle aged and it never quite stops feeling bonkers.
Secondly, I love the funny quips and one-liners. The dialogue is absolutely amazing.
Thirdly, the story doesn't quite know what it's trying to be. Good ideas are abandoned. New themes are introduced late in the story. By the end we're reading something that's more like a thriller. We have a bad guy who feels straight out of James Bond. This didn't bother me too much though.
Fourtly, why does Alicia want to have Matte's baby? It's out of character. What's her motive? Also what does this add to the story?
Fifthly, the protagonist chooses from bodies hanging in a cool room. Are they dead? Why would they be kept cold? Surely they're still living bodies? I know it's speculative fiction and not everything needs to be explained. However, it was weird and jarring to think that transplants were taking place into dead bodies. There wasn't a sufficient attempt to explain how this could work. Similarly it was rather bizarre that after the transplant there were essentially no signs of the operation.
Sixthly, nobody can travel around Europe and inflitrate different art scenes in just a matter of weeks. Being young and sexy doesn't automatically mean you know interesting people.
Despite these points which are mostly critical I suppose, I really liked this book. I wish it was longer and didn't end so abruptly.
September 25, 2019
4.5 Дојдов до заклучок дека Курејши е дефинитивно писателот кој сум започнал да го читам во погрешно време, и тоа дека секако неговите дела заслужуваат шанса за понатака. Кога понатаму? Зависи од карактерот на човекот. Но мислам дека постои совршена зона на преклопување меѓу одреден период на човековото созревање и писанијата на Курејши. По втор пат кога се вратив, со поразличен поглед на нештата, ги восприемав во еден здив, или како што некој ми рече „чиста и брза мисла зад која се кријат универзуми од размисли . Одличен.“.
November 22, 2017
الفكرة جميلة، غريبة وموحية بالكثير .. الصراع بين الحياة العقلانية المسؤولة والحاجات الغريزية غير الموجهة، كان نقطة ارتكاز الرواية الأساسية، لكنّ الكاتب بالغ باهتمامه بالعنصر الايروتيكي، بشكل أصاب القارىء ( أو أصابني أنا على الأقل) بالقرف!
فأضاع جمال الفكرة في مبالغاته البلهاء.
البداية القوية للرواية لم تدم طويلاً، تهلهلت الحبكة كثيراً في الثلثين الأخيرين، أجحف الكاتب بحق الجانب النفسي والثقافي للشخصيات، فكانت روايته مجرّدة من الأحاسيس متّخذةً من الجنس هدفاً للحياة!
لست ضد الادب الايروتيكي، لكن لا يمكن أن أعتبر هذه الرواية مندرجة تحت بند "أدب" !!
فأضاع جمال الفكرة في مبالغاته البلهاء.
البداية القوية للرواية لم تدم طويلاً، تهلهلت الحبكة كثيراً في الثلثين الأخيرين، أجحف الكاتب بحق الجانب النفسي والثقافي للشخصيات، فكانت روايته مجرّدة من الأحاسيس متّخذةً من الجنس هدفاً للحياة!
لست ضد الادب الايروتيكي، لكن لا يمكن أن أعتبر هذه الرواية مندرجة تحت بند "أدب" !!
February 27, 2010
This is beautiful prose with a gem of speculative fiction plot. Kureishi handles a successful man at mid-life beautifully, not going for the obvious. And he gets women so right, which I sometimes feel even the best male writers have a difficult time doing. Made me think.
October 1, 2023
A great plot idea with good execution in the first half. Unfortunately the second part left me wanting more. Especially the first part gave me much food for thought, while the second was just a way to wrap the story up. Would love a different and more philosophical ending
August 5, 2016
"What was important? He knew what it was -- impermanence, decay, death and the way it informed the present -- but couldn't bring himself to look straight at it." (p. 177)
January 19, 2023
Sve preporuke za ovu fantastičnu knjigu. Do sada nikada nisam pročitala delo Hanifa Kurejšija, a da me nije oduševilo.
February 4, 2026
Memory Jogger: The Body, by Hanif Kureishi
Core Concepts
The Body explores the fantasy of radical rejuvenation through technological body transfer, not as a triumph of science but as a stress test of identity. Youth appears as a purchasable asset and aging as a form of social exile. Physical renewal restores capacity—strength, sexual energy, sensory sharpness—but leaves intact the psychological structures formed by time: habits of desire, patterns of disappointment, moral evasions. The self persists across bodies, suggesting that embodiment is necessary for identity but insufficient to redefine it.
Quick Reference Takeaways
The acquisition of youth extends life without reorienting it. Desire intensifies under improved physical conditions but remains compulsive rather than clarifying. The promise of freedom dissolves into exposure: greater visibility brings greater vulnerability. The body functions as a medium through which life is lived, not a solution to existential dissatisfaction.
Key Quotes
Key Figures / Case Studies
Adam, the aging writer who undergoes the procedure, operates less as a character undergoing transformation than as a consciousness placed under altered conditions. The younger body becomes an instrument—idealized, exploited, and eventually normalized—rather than a source of renewal. Secondary figures, particularly sexual partners and family members, function as relational tests that expose the gap between bodily youth and emotional continuity. The medical and commercial actors enabling the transfer remain distant and procedural, reinforcing the sense that identity has been outsourced to a market logic.
Central Metaphors & Symbols
Sex becomes a site of risk rather than intimacy, erotic precisely because it is unstable and ungrounded. Pleasure is depicted as transformative but directionless, capable of motion without meaning. Rebirth imagery—“beginning again”—is stripped of innocence; starting over implies not liberation but the burden of re-entry without a shared past. Fatherhood emerges unexpectedly as a counterweight to self-absorption, gesturing toward continuity, responsibility, and temporal anchoring rather than escape.
Author’s Purpose / Intellectual Context
Kureishi situates the novella within late-modern anxiety about aging in a culture obsessed with youth, optimization, and reinvention. The technological premise is deliberately schematic; plausibility matters less than consequence. The narrative extends Kureishi’s long-standing examination of masculinity, desire, and self-deception, while resisting post-human optimism. Youth is not redemption but amplification—of appetite, risk, and unresolved selfhood.
Challenges / Philosophical Questions
If identity persists across bodies, does this affirm the primacy of consciousness or merely the inertia of habit? Is dissatisfaction an artifact of aging, or a structural feature of desire itself? Does the ability to “begin again” meaningfully alter one’s ethical obligations, or does it intensify them—particularly in relation to care, lineage, and responsibility? The novella leaves unresolved whether the failure lies in the technology, the protagonist, or the belief that life can be reset rather than lived forward.
(Written with input from ChatGPT)
Core Concepts
The Body explores the fantasy of radical rejuvenation through technological body transfer, not as a triumph of science but as a stress test of identity. Youth appears as a purchasable asset and aging as a form of social exile. Physical renewal restores capacity—strength, sexual energy, sensory sharpness—but leaves intact the psychological structures formed by time: habits of desire, patterns of disappointment, moral evasions. The self persists across bodies, suggesting that embodiment is necessary for identity but insufficient to redefine it.
Quick Reference Takeaways
The acquisition of youth extends life without reorienting it. Desire intensifies under improved physical conditions but remains compulsive rather than clarifying. The promise of freedom dissolves into exposure: greater visibility brings greater vulnerability. The body functions as a medium through which life is lived, not a solution to existential dissatisfaction.
Key Quotes
It was dangerous work sex, but as always, it was the terrors in the uncertainties that made it erotic.
Pleasure can change you in an instant, it can take you anywhere.
It hadn’t occurred to me that if I wanted to begin my life again, it would be as a father.
Key Figures / Case Studies
Adam, the aging writer who undergoes the procedure, operates less as a character undergoing transformation than as a consciousness placed under altered conditions. The younger body becomes an instrument—idealized, exploited, and eventually normalized—rather than a source of renewal. Secondary figures, particularly sexual partners and family members, function as relational tests that expose the gap between bodily youth and emotional continuity. The medical and commercial actors enabling the transfer remain distant and procedural, reinforcing the sense that identity has been outsourced to a market logic.
Central Metaphors & Symbols
Sex becomes a site of risk rather than intimacy, erotic precisely because it is unstable and ungrounded. Pleasure is depicted as transformative but directionless, capable of motion without meaning. Rebirth imagery—“beginning again”—is stripped of innocence; starting over implies not liberation but the burden of re-entry without a shared past. Fatherhood emerges unexpectedly as a counterweight to self-absorption, gesturing toward continuity, responsibility, and temporal anchoring rather than escape.
Author’s Purpose / Intellectual Context
Kureishi situates the novella within late-modern anxiety about aging in a culture obsessed with youth, optimization, and reinvention. The technological premise is deliberately schematic; plausibility matters less than consequence. The narrative extends Kureishi’s long-standing examination of masculinity, desire, and self-deception, while resisting post-human optimism. Youth is not redemption but amplification—of appetite, risk, and unresolved selfhood.
Challenges / Philosophical Questions
If identity persists across bodies, does this affirm the primacy of consciousness or merely the inertia of habit? Is dissatisfaction an artifact of aging, or a structural feature of desire itself? Does the ability to “begin again” meaningfully alter one’s ethical obligations, or does it intensify them—particularly in relation to care, lineage, and responsibility? The novella leaves unresolved whether the failure lies in the technology, the protagonist, or the belief that life can be reset rather than lived forward.
(Written with input from ChatGPT)
September 28, 2019
This is the first Kureishi I’ve read and was an impulse pick up from the library. I was disappointed. Short stories and novellas are incredibly difficult to write; to condense and explore a theme in a smaller format requires an ability to be pointedly selective in the prose, surgical in editing your ideas, there is little scope to waste a sentence and Kureishi doesn’t seem to have that scope. Instead his style is short dull sentences that read more like a shopping list of what to put in a story than the actual story itself.
The stories all focus on reflection of the choices we have made that lead us to the point of the tale. What makes us who we are and how we respond to our environment, what we cling to and what we let go. I would argue that that is what all stories are ultimately, but Kureishi sets each story up with an angle to keep this perspective centred.
The lead story “The Body” concerns that of Adam a middle aged successful playwright in physical decline, who is offered the opportunity to replace his own body with that of a young good looking man taking a six-month sabbatical as someone else. Leaving his family behind with the intention of finally returning to himself, he pops off for little adventures, living his life again knowing what he knows now. The concept isn’t new and neither is Kureishi’s approach. Adam is flung into a hedonistic attempt to live young, full of sex, drugs, dancing and sleeping on roofs in the Mediterranean. It is an unimaginative, cliched telling, that even in a short piece quickly lost appeal. I just simply didn’t care enough about Adam - I won’t give away the ending which was quite frankly ridiculous.
Other stories are not lyrical enough to be interesting. A story doesn’t need to be complex to be engrossing, simple settings can be expertly formed and great prose could describe a door handle for forty pages and keep me engaged but Kureishi isn’t the writer for that - at least not in a short story format.
Of all the stories in the collection “Goodbye, Mother” was the one I would recommend. It showed a depth that was lacking elsewhere. The story relates to a man who takes his mother to visit his father’s grave, a mother he resents, and he reflects during the visit on how his relationship with his parents has influenced him, his career choices, who he fell in love with, his own relationship with his children, and it tinkers with the potentially inherited depression that has just started to take hold. I always finish a book even if I’m not enjoying it and getting to this story towards the end is the reason why I persevere, but would I encourage you to read the book for this one story - no.
The stories all focus on reflection of the choices we have made that lead us to the point of the tale. What makes us who we are and how we respond to our environment, what we cling to and what we let go. I would argue that that is what all stories are ultimately, but Kureishi sets each story up with an angle to keep this perspective centred.
The lead story “The Body” concerns that of Adam a middle aged successful playwright in physical decline, who is offered the opportunity to replace his own body with that of a young good looking man taking a six-month sabbatical as someone else. Leaving his family behind with the intention of finally returning to himself, he pops off for little adventures, living his life again knowing what he knows now. The concept isn’t new and neither is Kureishi’s approach. Adam is flung into a hedonistic attempt to live young, full of sex, drugs, dancing and sleeping on roofs in the Mediterranean. It is an unimaginative, cliched telling, that even in a short piece quickly lost appeal. I just simply didn’t care enough about Adam - I won’t give away the ending which was quite frankly ridiculous.
Other stories are not lyrical enough to be interesting. A story doesn’t need to be complex to be engrossing, simple settings can be expertly formed and great prose could describe a door handle for forty pages and keep me engaged but Kureishi isn’t the writer for that - at least not in a short story format.
Of all the stories in the collection “Goodbye, Mother” was the one I would recommend. It showed a depth that was lacking elsewhere. The story relates to a man who takes his mother to visit his father’s grave, a mother he resents, and he reflects during the visit on how his relationship with his parents has influenced him, his career choices, who he fell in love with, his own relationship with his children, and it tinkers with the potentially inherited depression that has just started to take hold. I always finish a book even if I’m not enjoying it and getting to this story towards the end is the reason why I persevere, but would I encourage you to read the book for this one story - no.
October 19, 2025
آدم كاتب مسرحي في منتصف الستينات من عمره زوج محب لزوجته مارغوا وأب لشاب وشابة شقا طريقهما في الحياة .
بدأ يعاني من أمراض الشيخوخة ويخونه جسده، يلتقي بصديق في حفلة ليخبره هذا الصديق عن مشفى سري يستطيع به أن ينتقل لجسد يختاره هو ويستأجره مدة ستة شهور ليجرب الحياة ثانية من منظور آخر وليقوم بكل ما أراد القيام به قبلاَ ولم يفعل، وليشعر ثانية بطاقة الشباب بدلاً من أوجاع الشيخوخة. ستكون بداية جديدة بمعدات قديمة. حتى أنه يمكنه أن يختار العيش هذه المرة بجسد أنثى لو شاء .
يفكر لبعض الوقت ثم يغامر فسيكون لديه الذكاء و المال والنضج والطاقة الجسدية فإن لم يكن هذا هو الكمال الإنساني فما هو؟.
سيعيش الحياة بشكل مختلف لكن هل سيعيشها بشكل أفضل؟
يخبر زوجته إنه سيسافر في رحلة عمل مدتها ستة أشهر.
فكيف سيقضي آدم هذه الشهور وهل ستتغير نظرته للحياة ؟ وماهي المخاطر لمثل هذه التجربة؟.
رواية على قصرها ١٦٨ صفحة إلا أنها غنية بالأفكار و التساؤلات الفلسفية :
إذا كانت هذه التقنية موجودة وكان الأطباء فنانو الأجساد حقيقيين يعملون على تنقية الأجساد المتوفاة لتصلح للإقامة مجدداً فهل سيكون هناك أشخاص ذوي فائدة للبشرية أحق من غيرهم بأن يعيشوا أو يخلدوا .
وإذا كانت هذه التقنية اختيارية هل سنجد أناساً لايرغبون بتجربتها؟. أو هل ستصلح لكل البشر؟ .
هل سيصبح الأغنياء هم الأحق باستئجار أو شراء الأجساد لمجرد أنهم يملكون المال؟. وهل سيصبح شراء جسد جديد لابنك كهدية في عيد ميلاده، أو تبادل الأجساد كما تبدل الثياب بالنسبة للفتيات شيئاً عادياً كأن نقول من سيرتدي هذا الجسد اليوم؟ .
هل سيكون الخلود بانتقالنا من جسد شاب لآخر و سينقرض الشيوخ ؟ .
هل للجسد المادي روح ؟ أو كما قال فرويد عنها الأنا الجسدية؟
هل سيكون من المبرر
الاستيلاء على أجساد المنبوذين المهملين الفاشلين أو من يعانون من عقولهم بسبب إعاقة عقلية أو مرض نفسي كالاكتئاب ؟.
هل سيلجأ بعض الأنانيين للقتل من أجل الحصول على الجسد الذي يريدون، وانتزاعه من صاحبه بدلاً من شراء الأجساد المتاحة أمامهم؟ .
حنيف قريشي ولد لأب باكستاني وأم إنجليزية سنة ١٩٥٤.
في سنة ٢٠٢٢ تعرض لسقطة كسرت فيها رقبته وأدت لشلله الرباعي ، بعد تجاوز الغضب مايزال حنيف يكتب وينتج بعد الحادث فرأسه لم يتأثر وعمله فكري وليس جسدياً.
كتب بعدها عملاً بعنوان المحطم يستند لحادثته وتجربته في الشلل.
خطر لي بعد هذه المعلومة وقراءة الرواية هل كان الكاتب سيستأجر جسداً بدل المشلول أم سيقنع بقدره مثلما هو الآن ؟.
د.نسرين درّاج
بدأ يعاني من أمراض الشيخوخة ويخونه جسده، يلتقي بصديق في حفلة ليخبره هذا الصديق عن مشفى سري يستطيع به أن ينتقل لجسد يختاره هو ويستأجره مدة ستة شهور ليجرب الحياة ثانية من منظور آخر وليقوم بكل ما أراد القيام به قبلاَ ولم يفعل، وليشعر ثانية بطاقة الشباب بدلاً من أوجاع الشيخوخة. ستكون بداية جديدة بمعدات قديمة. حتى أنه يمكنه أن يختار العيش هذه المرة بجسد أنثى لو شاء .
يفكر لبعض الوقت ثم يغامر فسيكون لديه الذكاء و المال والنضج والطاقة الجسدية فإن لم يكن هذا هو الكمال الإنساني فما هو؟.
سيعيش الحياة بشكل مختلف لكن هل سيعيشها بشكل أفضل؟
يخبر زوجته إنه سيسافر في رحلة عمل مدتها ستة أشهر.
فكيف سيقضي آدم هذه الشهور وهل ستتغير نظرته للحياة ؟ وماهي المخاطر لمثل هذه التجربة؟.
رواية على قصرها ١٦٨ صفحة إلا أنها غنية بالأفكار و التساؤلات الفلسفية :
إذا كانت هذه التقنية موجودة وكان الأطباء فنانو الأجساد حقيقيين يعملون على تنقية الأجساد المتوفاة لتصلح للإقامة مجدداً فهل سيكون هناك أشخاص ذوي فائدة للبشرية أحق من غيرهم بأن يعيشوا أو يخلدوا .
وإذا كانت هذه التقنية اختيارية هل سنجد أناساً لايرغبون بتجربتها؟. أو هل ستصلح لكل البشر؟ .
هل سيصبح الأغنياء هم الأحق باستئجار أو شراء الأجساد لمجرد أنهم يملكون المال؟. وهل سيصبح شراء جسد جديد لابنك كهدية في عيد ميلاده، أو تبادل الأجساد كما تبدل الثياب بالنسبة للفتيات شيئاً عادياً كأن نقول من سيرتدي هذا الجسد اليوم؟ .
هل سيكون الخلود بانتقالنا من جسد شاب لآخر و سينقرض الشيوخ ؟ .
هل للجسد المادي روح ؟ أو كما قال فرويد عنها الأنا الجسدية؟
هل سيكون من المبرر
الاستيلاء على أجساد المنبوذين المهملين الفاشلين أو من يعانون من عقولهم بسبب إعاقة عقلية أو مرض نفسي كالاكتئاب ؟.
هل سيلجأ بعض الأنانيين للقتل من أجل الحصول على الجسد الذي يريدون، وانتزاعه من صاحبه بدلاً من شراء الأجساد المتاحة أمامهم؟ .
حنيف قريشي ولد لأب باكستاني وأم إنجليزية سنة ١٩٥٤.
في سنة ٢٠٢٢ تعرض لسقطة كسرت فيها رقبته وأدت لشلله الرباعي ، بعد تجاوز الغضب مايزال حنيف يكتب وينتج بعد الحادث فرأسه لم يتأثر وعمله فكري وليس جسدياً.
كتب بعدها عملاً بعنوان المحطم يستند لحادثته وتجربته في الشلل.
خطر لي بعد هذه المعلومة وقراءة الرواية هل كان الكاتب سيستأجر جسداً بدل المشلول أم سيقنع بقدره مثلما هو الآن ؟.
د.نسرين درّاج
May 20, 2020
¿Qué es el cuerpo? ¿Sólo una maquinaria o la relación de cómo tu interior consiguió adaptarse al medio donde habitas? ¿Cuál es la relación con tu cuerpo y que haría para mejorarlo? ¿Hasta dónde llegarías para que se eliminen los achaques? ¿Qué porcentaje de importancia le darías a tu cuerpo? Este autor nos hace reflexionar sobre si el cuerpo es solo un envase o existe una relación entre la conciencia, los recuerdos y el mecanismo que los engloba. ¿Hay una memoria corporal? ¿Solo somos cerebros más cuerpo?
El libro está protagonizado por un escritor, alter ego de Hanif al que se le presenta un lector de sus obras, un admirador. Este le brinda una oportunidad única que el protagonista no podrá desaprovechar. Este escritor también escribe guiones teatrales y siempre está muy ocupado. Tiene bloqueos y habla mucho sobre el arte de escribir. Hace guiños al lector, nombra a Hamlet, de Shakeaspeare; Final de Partida de Beckett, Flannery O´Connor entre otros.
Un libro que te genera un montón de preguntas. Un libro que, sin ser un tratado de filosofía, te hace pensar sobre qué significa ser estéticamente bello, el hedonismo, la paternidad, el amor, la juventud, la vejez.
Un libro que te quita el aliento. Un libro indispensable.
El libro está protagonizado por un escritor, alter ego de Hanif al que se le presenta un lector de sus obras, un admirador. Este le brinda una oportunidad única que el protagonista no podrá desaprovechar. Este escritor también escribe guiones teatrales y siempre está muy ocupado. Tiene bloqueos y habla mucho sobre el arte de escribir. Hace guiños al lector, nombra a Hamlet, de Shakeaspeare; Final de Partida de Beckett, Flannery O´Connor entre otros.
Un libro que te genera un montón de preguntas. Un libro que, sin ser un tratado de filosofía, te hace pensar sobre qué significa ser estéticamente bello, el hedonismo, la paternidad, el amor, la juventud, la vejez.
Un libro que te quita el aliento. Un libro indispensable.
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