Sameer Rahim
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Articles by Sameer Rahim
Should Martin Amis have won the Booker Prize?
By Sameer Rahim Martin Amis plays snooker exactly as you would expect Martin Amis to play snooker. ‘A flair player, one who relies on natural ability,’ as he self-describes in a 1991 account in Esquire of a match against friend and fellow novelist Julian Barnes, ‘he is inconsistent, foul-tempered, over-ambitious, graceless alike in victory and defeat.’ Still, he hits the ball ‘tremendously hard and with various violent spins’. His nickname?
The unsettling, dreamlike world of author Jamil Jan Kochai
The Afghan-American author’s latest collection of short stories has attracted both controversy and acclaim. Now it is shortlisted for a coveted US National Book Award Like many boys at his California high school, Jamil Jan Kochai spent a large portion of his teenage years playing the video game Call of Duty, a first-person shooter set partly in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion of the 1980s.
The alluring legacy of Alexander the Great
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Michael Pollan: Why MDMA could help your marriage
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Demonising Salman Rushdie
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October 2022 - Prospect Magazine
Essays Britain’s breaking point Looming recession, the cost-of-living crisis and rising inequality are pushing Britain to the brink. Is a popular uprising on the way?
Frans de Waal: “Female monkeys pick up the dolls and males pick up the trucks”
Register today to continue reading You’ve hit your limit of three articles in the last 30 days. To get seven more, simply enter your email address below. You’ll also receive our free e-book Prospect’s Top Thinkers and our newsletter with the best new writing on politics, economics, literature and the arts. Prospect may process your personal information for our legitimate business purposes, to provide you with newsletters, subscription offers and other relevant information.
Why those who dismiss V.S. Naipaul as a defender of colonialism should take a closer look at his writing
When a great writer dies, so does their mystique. Previously muttered complaints about inflated reputations and unpleasant personal traits are brought into the open. (A scandalous biography helps.) But when V.S. Naipaul died in 2018 the work had already been done. Naipaul was best known as a snob, always keen to dismiss modern England or lament the dark failure of Africa.
The Singh Twins in fashion
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Oliver Bullough's Butler to the World - review
Reviewed here Butler to the World: How Britain Became the Servant of Tycoons, Tax Dodgers, Kleptocrats and Criminals by Oliver Bullough Profile, RRP: £20 Buy on Bookshop.org Prospect receives commission when you buy a book using this page. Thank you for supporting us. US politician Dean Acheson declared in 1962 that Britain had “lost an empire and failed to find a role.” In his new book, journalist Oliver Bullough argues we have found our métier—butler to the world.
Andrey Kurkov: “When the war is over, will the nation stay together?”
Photo: Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images “I will be talking to you and cooking lunch for my family,” Andrey Kurkov tells me on Skype, restlessly roaming among his kitchen’s yellow cupboards. Ukraine’s best-known novelist is in a hurry. In the weeks since Russia invaded his country on 24th February, he and his family, usually based in Kyiv, have moved four times. Now they are on the Ukrainian-Hungarian border.
Francis Fukuyama: What liberalism gets right (and wrong)
Francis Fukuyama in 2017. Credit: © Djurdja Padejski Francis Fukuyama is one of the world’s best-known thinkers. He first came to public attention with his essay The End of History? (1989), which later became his 1992 book The End of History and the Last Man. It was a thorough defence of the liberal democratic order that many thought was the inevitable future for the world after the Cold War.
The art of Stonehenge
A sun pendant found in Shropshire in 2018. Credit: The trustees of the British Museum Geoffrey of Monmouth thought it was a giant’s ring conjured by Merlin. John Aubrey claimed it was one of the “temples of the druids.” Another antiquarian suggested it was used for therapeutic mineral bathing—a kind of megalithic spa. William Blake praised these “precious unseen stones of Eden,” while JMW Turner painted it being dramatically struck by lightning.
Junior doctor Roopa Farooki: “The political leadership should have put things in place to make things better”
When Roopa Farooki was writing her real-time account of life as a junior doctor during the pandemic, she hoped she would look back at the experience “from a place of wisdom and learning.” But two years on, another serious Covid wave is hitting her Kent hospital. She’s speaking to me after a 13-hour shift; during her 20-minute break she was interrupted five times by GPs paging her about patients.
Robert Maxwell’s unlikely rise and steep descent
Reviewed here Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell by John Preston Viking Buy on Bookshop.org Prospect receives commission when you buy a book using this page. Thank you for supporting us. Robert Maxwell was always a gambler. The press baron who raided the pension fund of the Daily Mirror and regularly bet huge amounts in casinos—one time winning £750,000, another losing £400,000—was born poor in a shtetl in Czechoslovakia, in 1923.
What Henry James can teach us about the culture wars
Christopher Reeve as Basil Ransom and Madeleine Potter as Verena Tarrant in the 1984 film adaptation of The Bostonians. Credit: Alamy As the culture war continues to rage, one type of writer seems to be doing pretty well: the world-weary reactionary. Usually conservative but sometimes self-described as a centrist liberal, they respond to what they see as the excesses of left-wing activists—tearing down statues or encroaching on freedom of speech—not with overt anger but ironic commentary.
Nobel laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah: "You realise, in English literature, you’re completely and totally absent"
Illustration by Maria-Ines Gul When Abdulrazak Gurnah was growing up in the 1950s in Zanzibar, a small island off the east African coast, he could not imagine a career as a writer. Though there were poets and storytellers, there were no literary publishers. At school he was taught the English canon.
Jonathan Franzen’s lessons in goodness
Reviewed here Crossroads by Jonathan Franzen Fourth Estate Buy Prospect receives a commission when you buy a book using this page. Thank you for supporting us. Jonathan Franzen has never shied away from moral seriousness. His previous novels—his breakthrough bestseller The Corrections and the follow-ups Freedom and Purity—examined the clash between high ideals and the messy reality of life. Franzen might have called his new novel “Goodness,” if that didn’t sound too earnest even for him.
Why ‘The Many Saints of Newark’ lacks everything good about The Sopranos
Michael Gandolfini, left, as Tony Soprano and Alessandro Nivola as Dickie Moltisanti in "The Many Saints of Newark” Credit: Warner Bros Early in the first series of The Sopranos, Christopher Moltisanti, aspiring gangster and aspiring screenwriter, spots Martin Scorsese at a nightclub. “Marty!” he shouts from a distance. “Kundun, I liked it!” That Christopher, the show’s least zen character, would pick out Scorsese’s critically panned life of the Dalai Lama is a witty touch.
The world’s top 50 thinkers 2021: the winner
In pursuing questions about how our bodies build themselves from a fertilised egg, Palestinian biologist Jacob Hanna is searching out fundamental truths about the human condition—and making discoveries that destabilise our concepts of what we are and how we come to be. Although he is—for now—far from being a household name, his field of enquiry is thus a fitting one in which to find Prospect readers’ surprise pick for the world’s top thinker of 2021.
Why Ed Miliband still finds reasons to be cheerful
Ed Miliband in 2020. Credit: REUTERS/Simon Dawson/Alamy After his election defeat in 2015, Ed Miliband grew a beard and started a podcast. The beard didn’t last but the podcast has. Co-presented with Geoff Lloyd, Reasons to be Cheerful turns policymaking into entertaining listening. Whether discussing the Green New Deal or electoral reform, they make the argument as wide-ranging as possible. Miliband’s new book, Go Big, which draws on his podcast, follows the same pattern.
Disorientated: the confusions of Edward Said
In November 1974, Yasser Arafat delivered a speech at the UN in New York. The PLO leader, viewed by the US government as a terrorist, attacked “Zionist racists and colonialists” and honoured the “popular armed struggle” to free Palestine. But he ended with a (qualified) peace offering: “Today I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom-fighter’s gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.” Those resonant lines came from the pen of nearby Columbia University’s Edward Said.
Nawal El Saadawi (1931-2021): the pen can also be a weapon
Daughter of Isis: Nawal El Saadawi Credit: Oriol Clavera / Alamy Stock Photo The Egyptian writer Nawal El Saadawi died on 21st March, at the age of 89, in Cairo. She was a hugely influential figure: a novelist and memoirist, a doctor who helped reform Egypt’s health system, as well as one of the best-known feminists from the Arab world. In December 2018, I sat down with El Saadawi in London, when she was promoting the reissue of her memoirs A Daughter of Isis and Walking through Fire (Zed Books).
Loving the alien
The world of Kazuo Ishiguro’s new novel — let’s call it Ishville — is instantly recognizable. Our narrator Klara is arranging traumatic memories into comprehensible order. She is a robot, an Artificial Friend or AF, purchased as a companion for an ill teenager named Josie. Klara’s speaking voice, in a C-3PO-ish way, is endearingly off-kilter: ‘I was instructed to ensure against hanky-panky.’ ‘I’m sorry. It’s my error.
The robot as carer: Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro, reviewed
Kazuo Ishiguro. Credit: Getty Images The world of Kazuo Ishiguro’s new novel — let’s call it Ishville — is instantly recognisable. Our narrator, Klara, is arranging traumatic memories into comprehensible order. She is a robot, an Artificial Friend or AF, purchased as a companion for an ill teenager named Josie. Klara’s speaking voice, in a C3PO-ish way, is endearingly off-kilter: ‘I was instructed to ensure against hanky-panky.’ ‘I’m sorry. It’s my error.
Palmyra and the myth of civilisation
Six years after he was murdered by Islamic State (IS), Khaled al-Asaad’s human remains were finally recovered on 7th February. The final days of the Syrian Director of Antiquities in Palmyra have an element of heroic mythology befitting the ancient city in which he worked. According to reports, IS tortured him to reveal where its famous funerary busts and rumoured gold treasure had been hidden.
Palmyra and the myth of civilisation
On Sunday evening, it was reported that the human remains of Khaled al-Asaad, the Syrian Director of Antiquities in Palmyra murdered by Islamic State (IS) in 2015, had been discovered. The story of Asaad’s final days has an element of heroic mythology befitting the ancient city in which he worked. According to reports, he was tortured by IS to force him to reveal the whereabouts of hidden artworks—such as its famous funerary busts—and buried gold treasure.
Literary lessons from George Saunders (and Chekhov)
Portrait of Anton Chekhov Credit: Wikimedia Commons Literary criticism is less popular than literary biography. A writer’s life can take on a familiar inspirational or tragic arc, while analysing their technique is thought to be rather dry. That’s why it’s such a pleasure to turn to George Saunders’s new book, a chatty yet eagle-eyed breakdown of seven short stories by four great Russian writers: Chekhov, Tolstoy, Gogol and Turgenev.
John le Carré and the art of betrayal
John le Carré: in his fictional world every gesture is shadowed with meaning Credit: Photo: Christian Charisius/dpa/PA Images Towards the end of John le Carré’s A Perfect Spy, a Czech spy called Axel—alias Poppy—chides the British double agent he is running. On entering Czechoslovakia, why did he use his real name? “They said I would be better being me,” replies Magnus Pym, “they call it natural cover.” Axel is angry—or at least seems to be. In Le Carré’s world every gesture has a shadow meaning.
Eyes on the prize: my year as a Booker judge
The first time I was asked to judge the Booker Prize, I said no. I was too busy with my day job here at Prospect, and desperately wanted to finish a novel that I had spent years working on. Three years later, the call came again. I still had the job and was starting my second book. Oh, and my wife and I were expecting our first baby… Register today to continue reading You’ve hit your limit of three articles in the last 30 days. To get seven more, simply enter your email address below.
Judging the Booker prize: 'These books are about living under intense pressure'
For the Booker judges, like everyone else, 2020 has been a year of staying in. Luckily for us, we had the company of 162 authors to keep us entertained. Months of reading, rereading and debating over Zoom has enabled us to whittle down the set to six books. Diane Cook’s The New Wilderness follows a group of people trying to survive in a near-future blighted by environmental catastrophe.
I was Saddam’s prisoner
Register today to continue reading You’ve hit your limit of three articles in the last 30 days. To get seven more, simply enter your email address below. You’ll also receive our free e-book Prospect’s Top Thinkers and our newsletter with the best new writing on politics, economics, literature and the arts. Prospect may process your personal information for our legitimate business purposes, to provide you with newsletters, subscription offers and other relevant information.
Seven Ways to Break a Fast – Sameer Rahim
Shawkat found it impossible to balance all four drinks; instead, he manacled two pints of cold beer before depositing them with a manly nod in front of Dominic and Charlie. ‘Nice one, Shortcut,’ said Dominic, gulping his new pint. There was no story behind the nickname; it was pure euphony. ‘Where’s Caz’s?’ demanded Charlie. Quickly, Shawkat retrieved her white wine and his own yellow-green orange juice packed with ghostly ice cubes.
Roger Scruton’s final word on Wagner
The philosopher tackles sex and shame in Parsifal by Sameer Rahim / July 11, 2020 / Leave a comment Parsifal and the flower-maidens, a 1917 image from the Victrola Book of the Opera Image: Wikipedia It is fitting that the final book by Roger Scruton, who died in January, should be about Richard Wagner’s final opera. Scruton has already written books on the Ring Cycle and Tristan und Isolde, finding richness in both the philosophy and music of the great German composer.
Wolf Hall: the Dark Side of Thomas Cromwell
The final episode of Wolf Hall showed how Anne Boleyn's execution began Cromwell's downfall by Sameer Rahim / February 26, 2015 / Leave a comment Anne Boleyn (Claire Foy) prepares for her execution (© BBC/Giles Keyte) “Madam, nothing here is personal.” Thomas Cromwell’s words to Anne Boleyn in the last episode of Wolf Hall are chillingly ambiguous. In one sense, he is trying to cynically exculpate himself in advance for framing the Queen for adultery.
“Book murderer”: Why debates on the way we treat our books aren’t actually about reading
From Twitter’s “Book Murderer” debate to anxieties about Marie Kondo’s call to declutter our shelves, the humble book has incurred many a frenzied debate. Photo: Isaac Israels, Girl Reading on a Sofa, 1920 In 1570, the English poet Thomas Tusser invited readers to cut up his latest book.
Forget Fleabag, This Country is the comedy that sums up modern Britain
The story of two cousins living in the Cotswolds is hilarious and humane—with a subtle political streak by Sameer Rahim / February 14, 2020 / Leave a comment Daisy May Cooper as Kerry Mucklowe.
Margaret Atwood on The Gift that keeps on giving
Margaret Atwood considers Lewis Hyde’s “The Gift.” Photo: Prospect composite/Arthur Mola/Shutterstock Gifts pass from hand to hand: they endure through such transmission, as every time a gift is given it is enlivened and regenerated through the new spiritual life it engenders both in the giver and in the receiver. And so it is with Lewis Hyde’s classic study of gift-giving and its relationship to art.
Clive James-a tribute
Clive's editor remembers a man who remained a consummate writer to the end by Sameer Rahim / November 28, 2019 / Leave a comment Clive James illustrated by André Carrilho Like many people of my generation, I first remember seeing Clive James wryly commenting on clips from crazy Japanese television shows—the kind of thing that now goes viral on Twitter.
Clive James—a tribute - Prospect Magazine
Like many people of my generation, I first remember seeing Clive James wryly commenting on clips from crazy Japanese television shows—the kind of thing that now goes viral on Twitter. So my teenage self was somewhat surprised to see him in the New Yorker ruminating on the German responsibility for the Holocaust. It was like finding out Terry Wogan was a secret Hegel scholar. But Clive was never one to be pinned down by the artificial divisions of high and low culture.
Learning to speak Islam
A writer set out, after 9/11, to learn Arabic, Urdu and Persian. He reflects on religion as a kind of language that has the power to communicate across countries, cultures and time On a blazing Sunday morning in July, I went in search of my grandfather’s grave. Born in 1900 in Zanzibar, off the East African coast, Hussein Allarikhia Rahim died in 1979 in London, and was buried in Brookwood cemetery, near Woking, where Britain’s first mosque still stands.
Should you trust opinion polls ahead of the 2019 general election?
In an era where voter volatility seems to be becoming the norm, can you still trust opinion polls? by Prospect Team / November 6, 2019 / Leave a comment Votes are counted during the 2016 EU referendum. Photo: PA “Who still trusts pollsters, though?” is the inevitable response from Labour campaigners when faced with the Conservatives’ current poll lead over Labour.
Richard Ayoade versus Hollywood
Richard Ayoade, in filmmaking mode Turn on Channel Four these days and chances are you’ll see comedian Richard Ayoade doing a version of the nerdy character he played in The IT Crowd. Whether it’s riffing on a late-night comedy quiz, playfully haranguing a fellow comedian in a semi-exotic locale, or presenting the rebooted Crystal Maze armed only with light sarcasm and a wooden hand on a stick, Ayoade has perfected his endearingly awkward persona.
Richard Ayoade versus Hollywood
Richard Ayoade, in filmmaking mode. Photo via publisher Turn on Channel Four these days and chances are you’ll see comedian Richard Ayoade doing a version of the nerdy character he played in The IT Crowd. Whether it’s riffing on a late-night comedy quiz, playfully haranguing a fellow comedian in a semi-exotic locale, or presenting the rebooted Crystal Maze armed only with light sarcasm and a wooden hand on a stick, Ayoade has perfected his endearingly awkward persona.
Hostile takeover-how a corporation conquered India
From the start British imperialism was about loot, not spreading civilisation by Sameer Rahim / October 8, 2019 / Leave a comment Clive of India memorial in Westminster Taking pride of place between the modern Treasury and the Foreign Office is a statue of Robert Clive, better known as Clive of India.
The myth of the golden age of reading
Young Girl Reading by Fragonard c 1770 © Wikimedia commons Attention spans are getting shorter. We no longer have the patience to read properly. The printed codex is a dead technology and the future is browsing ebooks and hyperlinked webpages. Listening to an audiobook isn’t as good as reading a proper book. These are some common arguments you hear. But are they right?
Prospect world’s top thinkers, 2019: the top ten
Mathematician Caucher Birkar won by a landslide—but who else made the top ten? by Sameer Rahim / September 3, 2019 / Leave a comment Illustration by Michelle Thompson. Mathematician Caucher Birkar won by a landslide, getting more than half the total votes. Judging by the comments we received from his fans—many in Kurdish—it seems likely he tapped into support from that part of the world. No one ever said online polls were as rigorous as maths.
The world’s top thinkers 2019: who we missed
Interestingly, the names conjured were strikingly different from the kind of thinkers voted into our top 10 by Sameer Rahim / September 3, 2019 / Leave a comment Jordan Peterson was one of the figures readers said we’d missed. Photo: PA Here at Prospect towers, we agonised over our list of thinkers. In the later stages, it got brutal: sure, he’s won a Nobel, but is he really that good? She’s great, but does campaigning really count as thinking?
On the frontline of the war on truth
Fighting fake news could be ever harder than the Cold War by Sameer Rahim / September 2, 2019 / Leave a comment Maria Ressa, who runs the Rappler online news website in Jakarta John Nacion/starmaxinc.com/Starmax/PA Images Peter Pomerantsev has truth-telling in his blood. His father was a dissident who moved to the UK and then worked for the World Service.
Where does the left’s race problem come from?
Traditionally tolerant, a new form of essentialism has gripped parts of the left by Sameer Rahim / July 26, 2019 / Leave a comment Priti Patel arrives in Downing Street to meet new PM Boris Johnson Credit: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire/PA Images We live in strange political times. But one of the strangest recent developments has been the rise of racial thinking on the left, historically the progenitor of equality legislation and defender of minorities.
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