Alaa Al Aswany
Wednesday 7 February 2007 21:30-22:15 (Radio 3)
Philip Dodd talks to Alaa Al Aswany, whose book The Yacoubian Building became the best selling novel in Arabic when it was first published in his native Egypt. This story of life in modern Egypt as told through the inhabitants of a once-fashionable Cairo apartment has now been translated into English.
Duration:
45 minutes
Playlist
Alaa Al Aswany
Tonight's studio guest is the Egyptian novelist Alaa Al Aswany whose novel, The Yacoubian Building, has become something of a phenomenon in the Arab world.
The story tells of the rapidly changing fortunes of the inhabitants of a once grand and now dilapidated building on one of Cairo's main boulevards.
Behind the sometimes bawdy individual stories lies the tale of the country's transformation, from pre-revolutionary culture to the arrival of a more radicalised Islam.
The novel has become the biggest selling novel in the Middle East and has been the inspiration for the highest-budget Arabic-language film ever made.
The Yacoubian Building is published by Fourth Estate.
The Meaning Of Life
Academic firebrand Terry Eagleton and philosopher Jonathan Ree discuss nothing less than "The Meaning of Life", the title and subject of Eagleton's new book.
In it, he shows how philosophers throughout the centuries have tackled the question, and argues that in a secular society the issue is more relevant than ever.
Finally, the author proffers his own meaning of life and conception of happiness. But does it stand up to philosophical enquiry?
The Meaning of Life by Terry Eagleton is published by OUP on 22 February 2007.
Sami music
The Sami are the indigenous nomadic reindeer herders who are scattered over a vast territory that covers the Northern tundra of Norway, Sweden and Finland.
Many of their myths and traditions have been reduced to a folksy tourist attraction and their language and rituals have been actively suppressed.
Now musicians are attempting to revive the old singing styles as Philip Dodd discovers as he listens to new Sami songs from Norway.
The eponymous album by Adjagas is released on the Ever label.
ooo,looks interesting, lots of letters about the meaning of life in the latest issue of philosophy now
www.philosophynow.com 
