Intolerable: A Memoir of Extremes
Page 19
The Globe and Mail’s Focus section, and particularly its editor in 2010, Carol Toller, commissioned the first outing of Intolerable as a two-thousand-word article, “From Bikinis to Burkas.” I’m indebted to Carol not just for picking up my pitch but for giving the final piece its shape and emotional texture. The forty-eight hours we worked together were the most intense and rewarding in my life as a journalist. In a career with over fifteen hundred bylines, the final story was by far my most read and discussed. As it went viral, I felt part of a worldwide conversation about Islam, the Middle East and social change. Thanks to everyone who emailed me, sent a message on Facebook or added a comment on the Globe’s website. Thanks to Stephen Northfield, Jill Borra and Gabe Gonda, also from the Globe and Mail, for commissioning a piece about Cairo in early 2011, and to Rachel Giese and Alexandra Molotkow from the Walrus magazine for the opportunity to write about Yemen in the spring of the same year. Excerpts from all three pieces appear at different points in this book.
My colleagues at Ryerson University’s School of Journalism deserve special thanks for supporting this book, which I first mentioned as a dream project in my job interview in May 2007. While much of that support was emotional and intellectual, I was also fortunate enough to receive financial aid from the Faculty of Communication and Design’s Creative Grant program, which covered part of the cost of a trip back to Cairo and Beirut in 2010. Thanks to Dean Gerd Hauck and associate deans Abby Goodrum and Gillian Mothersill for the financial assistance.
My many students, especially in the master’s of journalism class in magazine and feature writing in winter 2011, have heard me talk about the struggle to write a book while holding a teaching job. Thank you all for listening and for being such wonderful, resourceful and talented journalists.
As the book’s dedication to Toronto suggests, I’m in love with this city (and this great country), but it shares my affection with another place thousands of miles away: Hong Kong. I don’t think I could have finished this book without a two-week working holiday (and fourth visit in seven years) to Hong Kong in the spring of 2011. Maybe it’s the former-colony thing, or perhaps it’s just the city’s seductive buzz and optimism that proved so inspiring. Either way, I’m thankful and lucky to have such a gorgeous home away from home.
Finally, I’m extremely fortunate in having so many lovely and kind friends in my life in Toronto and elsewhere. I made a decision not to list any by name for fear of forgetting someone, but they all know who they are. Thank you for being not just my friends but my second—and, at many times in my life, only—family. Almost all of you are reading about my pre-West life for the first time, which is an indication of how difficult it’s been for me to discuss the past—and to write about it here. I hope Intolerable will explain why I’ve often stayed silent or avoided the subject of my (and my blood family’s) history.
Love, peace and freedom of choice to one and all.
—Toronto, January 2012
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kamal Al-Solaylee, an associate professor and undergraduate program director at the School of Journalism at Ryerson University, was previously a theatre critic at Canada’s national newspaper the Globe and Mail. A former staffer at Report on Business magazine, he has written features and reviews for numerous publications, including the Toronto Star, National Post, the Walrus and Toronto Life. Al-Solaylee holds a Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham and has taught at the University of Waterloo and York University. He lives in Toronto.
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PRAISE FOR
Intolerable
“[Al-Solaylee] reaches back to his parents’ history, from Yemen in the 1960s through Beirut, Cairo and then back to Yemen through the Arab Spring, in agonizing, heart-wrenching detail. Along the way, he illuminates the complex struggles and historical moments that have shaped the region, all through his very personal vantage point.”
—The Globe and Mail
“[A] forthright and engaging memoir. A gifted storyteller…. Deftly interweaving the personal and the political, and covering more than fifty years of Middle Eastern history, this memoir is anything but nostalgic.” —Quill & Quire
“Brilliant and utterly mesmerizing…. The book is informative and emotionally satisfying and a credit to Al-Solaylee’s heart-baring skill. It is enthralling, entertaining and a must-read.” —FAB
“[A] touching account of a gay man’s journey to self-awareness…. The story gains in poignancy against the backdrop of a Middle East beset by conflict, economic decline and the rise of political Islam…. There’s much to commend and like in this book. It’s often a joy to read.”
—Literary Review of Canada
“An important and captivating read for those interested in issues of immigration and homophobia in the shifting social and political cultures of the Middle East. It’s also an inspiration for those who have changed their lives, or will one day, in order to live more openly with their sexualities.” —Xtra!
“[A]n inspiring story…. Al-Solaylee captures the historical moment in a way that’s real and compelling.” —In Toronto
“Despite its light-hearted tone, this beguiling memoir tells an intensely emotional story of one family’s eroded dreams…. Unembellished and heartbreaking.” —2012 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize jury citation
“A wonderful new book.” —Metro Morning, CBC Radio
“Intolerable is a heartbreaking memoir of a man out of place and time. Tracing the Middle East through the 1980s and ‘90s, this is a personal coming-out narrative with a difference.”
—The Sun Times (Owen Sound)
“An astounding read.” —Canada AM, CTV TV
“A fascinating personal story and a history of a once-liberal family transformed by the politics and turmoil of the Middle East.”
—The Next Chapter, CBC Radio
“This is [a book] about survival and identity on many levels. The whole story is so singular and unlike any biography I have ever read. I could not put it down.” —Macleans.ca
“For anyone interested in the Arab World, for anyone interested in the intellectual formation of a theatre critic and scholar, for anyone interested in gay issues in alternative geographical contexts, this volume is a unique contribution to the field as well as an emotionally powerful read.” —Critical Stages
“As a beloved son and threatened citizen, Kamal Al-Solaylee tells a deeply rending story of his ‘escape’ from the toxic chaos of Middle Eastern politics and religious fundamentalism. The still-knotted emotions exposed here are boldly explored yet intensely understated. Here is a courageous personal history, all the more powerful for what it asks of every reader: What would you have done?”
—Wayson Choy, author of All That Matters
“I don’t think you’ll find a more painfully honest memoir on the bookshelves.” —Inside the News with Peter Mansbridge
“This wonderful book is the bittersweet story of a young man who grew up in Cairo and was irresistibly attracted to the freedom of the West—and the story of the sprawling family he left behind. As he journeyed toward a new life in Canada, his beloved mother, brothers and sisters succumbed to an increasingly repressive culture that gradually killed their hopes and dreams. Kamal Al-Solaylee has written a powerful memoir that will lift your spirits and break your heart.”
—Margaret Wente, author of You Can’t Say That in Canada
“Kamal Al-Solaylee has written a beguiling memoir. The story of his family’s repeated dislocation and changing relationship with Islam provides a new lens through which to consider the recent upheaval across the Middle East. I’ve read many books on Islam and the Arab world, but none with the intimacy and emotional weight of this one. Intolerable is an immigrant tale, a queer history, a geopolitical lesson, and above all, it’s a love story.”
—Stephanie Nolen, author of 28: Stories of AIDS in Africa
Copyright
; Intolerable
Copyright © 2012 by Kamal Al-Solaylee.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks.
EPub Edition © MAY 2013 ISBN: 9781443401845
Published by Harper Perennial, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
Originally published in Canada by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd in a hardcover edition: 2012
This Harper Perennial trade paperback edition: 2013
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
All photographs courtesy of the author.
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Al-Solaylee, Kamal
Intolerable : a memoir of extremes / Kamal Al-Solaylee.
ISBN 978-1-55468-887-6
1. Al-Solaylee, Kamal. 2. Journalists—Canada—Biography.
3. Arab Canadians—Biography. I. Title.
PN4913.A4A3 2013 070.92 C2012-908341-0
RRD 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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