American - Writer | 1970 -
Like most dictators, Col Gaddafi detests the metropolis. His vision of Libya is a kind of Bedouin romantic medievalism, suspicious of universities, theatres, galleries and cafes, and so monitors the cities' inhabitants with paranoid suspicion.
Hisham Matar
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I can pinpoint the exact moment when I first began to think about what profession I should go into. It was 1978. I was seven and had just been handed over by the women of my family to the earnest and self-important gatherings of the men. I was no longer the responsibility of my aunts and older female cousins. I was now a man. This was a tragedy.
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As a young boy in Libya, it was hard to escape the conclusion that the women were the most feeling and most functional part of society.
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As part of the ritual of becoming a man, my maternal uncle, a judge, and his four sons, each older than me, took me deer hunting.
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Over the centuries, close-knit tribes have played an important part in the cohesion of Libyan society.
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Ivan Turgenev's novella 'First Love' is one of the most perfect things ever written.
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The cost of Colonel Gaddafi's rule on Libyan society is incalculable.
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We got rid of Muammar Gaddafi. I never thought I would be able to write these words.
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Gaddafi tried to give a masterclass to men like the Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad, on how to crush a civilian uprising.
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Turgenev's achievement lies in how he succeeded, in spite of himself, his country, and his time, in exempting his work from public duty. This has given it that unnameable quality that makes every sentence true, every silence trustworthy.
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I don't remember a time when words were not dangerous.
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Nothing makes you feel more stupid than learning a new language. You lose your confidence. You want to disappear. Not be noticed. Say as little as possible.
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