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When Magic Failed: A Memoir of a Lebanese Childhood, Caught Between East and West
From the author of The Arab Predicament and Dream Palace of the Arabs comes a beautiful and haunting memoir of growing up in Lebanon in the ’50s and ’60s—the story of a sensitive young man and budding intellectual caught between tradition and modernity, east and west.
As one of the most profound and insightful scholars of the Middle East, Fouad Ajami’s sensibility was powerfully shaped by his childhood and youth in Lebanon in the ’50s and ’60s. The time was a transitional one—not only for the Middle East, but for America and the world. Lebanon in this era was just coming into its own as a cosmopolitan destination of the international jet set as well as earnest American educators seeking to modernize Arab society. The disruptive forces of the Middle East—the Cold War, the Palestinian conflict, religious extremism, the money and oil of the Gulf—were only just beginning to appear. In this haunting and beautifully written memoir of his Lebanese childhood, the late Middle East scholar, Fouad Ajami, casts a discerning light into the corners and alleyways of an Arab reality that would later erupt into full view.
As one of the most profound and insightful scholars of the Middle East, Fouad Ajami’s sensibility was powerfully shaped by his childhood and youth in Lebanon in the ’50s and ’60s. The time was a transitional one—not only for the Middle East, but for America and the world. Lebanon in this era was just coming into its own as a cosmopolitan destination of the international jet set as well as earnest American educators seeking to modernize Arab society. The disruptive forces of the Middle East—the Cold War, the Palestinian conflict, religious extremism, the money and oil of the Gulf—were only just beginning to appear. In this haunting and beautifully written memoir of his Lebanese childhood, the late Middle East scholar, Fouad Ajami, casts a discerning light into the corners and alleyways of an Arab reality that would later erupt into full view.
- GenresMiddle East
256 pages, Hardcover
Published May 3, 2022
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83 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 19, 2022
I read this because I'm very interested in Ajami as an influential figure in U.S. foreign policy circles. It appears to be the first half or so of a larger memoir about his life, family, and origins. Ajami thoroughly embraced a new American identity when he moved here, and he seems to have few warm feelings for his home culture in Lebanon. He emphasizes the stark break btw generations as Lebanon rapidly modernized in the mid-20th century; it seemed like his mother could barely understand the life he eventually led, nor city life in general. Ajami was from a pretty humble background, and he does a good job conveying daily and family life in small-town Lebanon as well as Beirut. He has a harrowing account of receiving a painful circumcision at 13. He shows his disdain for Arab nationalism in his remembrances as a shallow, overheated, somewhat amoral belief system, although he admits he was also caught up in the Nasser-ite fever of that era. He has a great section on learning English through American moves, which (along with US consumer goods) was his first introduction to the United States.
It is a little hard to tell from the preface and acknowledgments, but I think Ajami intended this to be a longer book. It ends rather abruptly, and one of my complaints is that there isn't much about his life in it; about the first third is before his birth entirely. Ajami had a poetic sensibility which shows in his writing, making it both beautiful but often a little vague. I find him to be an elusive and complex character, very humanistic but also possibly given to dreamy detachment from the world. This memoir is a helpful step in (maybe) writing a book about him later, but I wouldn't say it is a brilliant memoir in its own right.
It is a little hard to tell from the preface and acknowledgments, but I think Ajami intended this to be a longer book. It ends rather abruptly, and one of my complaints is that there isn't much about his life in it; about the first third is before his birth entirely. Ajami had a poetic sensibility which shows in his writing, making it both beautiful but often a little vague. I find him to be an elusive and complex character, very humanistic but also possibly given to dreamy detachment from the world. This memoir is a helpful step in (maybe) writing a book about him later, but I wouldn't say it is a brilliant memoir in its own right.
December 11, 2023
He’s a very good writer however the book fails to deliver what it promises. The book is solely focused on Mr. Ajami upbringing in a small town in Lebanon. It is more a story of all the people that surrounded him including his family rather than a personal take on how the stories have shaped his persona . The biography has no mention of his time in the US
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews