"To be a literary critic," writes Jacqueline Rose in appreciation of Edward Said, "is, amongst other things, to enter the mind of the other, to invite and even force your reader to see themselves in situations far from their own."

In this brilliant collection of essays, Rose examines what it would require to fulfil such a task. Whether she is exploring the correspondence of Freud and Arnold Zweig, analysing a [...]

The disparity between written and spoken Arabic is so great that talking to an audience is often a discouraging test for Arab writers. To use the vernacular, one would probably have to avoid sophisticated arguments and deep thoughts. But to talk in standard (written) language is to risk sounding pompous and rhetorical - and, worst of all, to fail to reach those who have had no school education. Given the [...]

When George W Bush declared war on terrorism, a number of liberal intellectuals scurried to express their support. Endorsing the spurious thesis of the "Clash of Civilisations" some, such as Paul Berman, author of Terror and Liberalism (praised by Nick Cohen in the issue of 30 October as one of the most original books to appear after 9/11) made the case for an ideological war against political Islam and Saddam [...]

Contrary to a notion common in the west, in Arab countries no opinion is too dangerous to express. People say whatever they want to say - they simply do it in private. Those who try to disclose in public what is meant to be shared only with a small circle of trusted friends, especially if it relates to political or religious matters, could pay a high price. Samir Kassir, who [...]

Reporting from Tyre during this summer's Israeli campaign against Lebanon, John Simpson, the BBC's world affairs editor, lamented the fate of the bombarded city: until recently it had looked, according to him, like the French Riviera. Until the age of 21 I lived only a few miles from Tyre, and for me neither its supposed likeness to Cannes and Nice nor the ancient ruins - Phoenician, Greek and Roman - [...]

Free publicity is too tempting for publishers and literary agents to resist. Books tied to current affairs, particularly those about Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Libya or anywhere else connected with the so-called war on terrorism, are eagerly snapped up by commissioning editors. This is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if the book in question is a non-fiction attempt to delve behind the headlines. But when it comes to fiction, topicality [...]

Golda Meir once said that "there is no such thing as a Palestinian", while Hafez al-Assad claimed that Palestine "is nothing but southern Syria". The similarity of these statements, made by former leaders of two sworn enemies, is not as paradoxical as it might sound. Both Israel and Syria rejected the notion of an autonomous Palestinian entity, whether as a territory or in the form of a national identity. But [...]

Every time I watch Life of Brian, the Monty Python classic satirising Jesus Christ, I think about writing something similar about the Prophet Muhammad. The story of early Islam has a hilariously comic side that would be a gift for the Python scriptwriters. Yet I've never tried to write such a version. Obviously, if I did so I would be risking a fatwa. At the same time, I'm also inhibited [...]

Arriving in Tel Aviv on my first visit to Israel last year, I was instantly reminded of Beirut in its pre-1975 heyday. Moving to Jaffa later the same day, I thought I had wandered into one of the Palestinian refugee camps that surround the Lebanese capital. Jaffa seemed to have suffered the fate of its original inhabitants, most of whom were driven out during the 1948 war. Cowering in the [...]

When news of Ariel Sharon's stroke broke, only a few Palestinians gathered in the streets of Gaza to express their feelings. TV reporters were lucky enough to find small groups of boys handing out cake as a way of expressing their joy - but that's about as far as it went. It's not that Palestinians are indifferent to what goes on in Israel, but they have more urgent concerns, closer [...]