Redgrave in Beirut…

Acting legend Vanessa Redgrave recently made her Beirut debut in the performance piece “A World I Loved” based on the memoir of Wadad Makdisi Cortas, the mother of Mariam Said (widow of postcolonial scholar and Palestinian advocate Edward Said). This feminist narrative is a meditation on and documentation of gender and education in the Middle East, the complexities of Arab identity, and the erasures of colonialism. While I was well-schooled in postcolonial literature before moving to Lebanon (having done a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Harvard University under Homi Bhabha), it was a true education to spend time with Edward Said’s family in Lebanon and hear about his life and ideas from his relatives first-hand. I have treasured every moment that I have spent in the company of Edward Said’s sister, Jean Said Makdisi, in Beirut. One of my favorite memories of living in Lebanon was being at her home and chatting until 3 am with her, director Peter Sellars, and other friends about classical music, theatre, opera, Middle Eastern politics, Palestine, and the refugee crisis. Whenever I assign Edward Said’s writing for my students, I like to also include excerpts from Jean’s memoirs (Teta, Mother, and Me: Three Generations of Arab Women and Beirut Fragments). Perhaps it would be wise to add A World I Loved: The Story of an Arab Woman too.