Naipaul, N. S. Beyond Belief: Islamic Excursions Among the Converted Peoples. Random House, 1999.
Reason read: Beyond Belief is the sequel to Among the Believers. Read to finish the series.
In Beyond Belief Naipaul picks up the story of faith nineteen years after Among the Believers. He follows his own footsteps and traces over the memories with new and different observations. His connections to people are less interviews and more conversations, however just as probing. Naipaul meets with poets, publishers, lecturers, researchers, criminals, religious and political leaders, laborers, and Muslim intellectuals. The most common theme was in times of various regimes you had two choices – be revolutionary or reactionary. Naipaul met them both. My favorite part was when he addresses the sacredness of place; how the idea of what constitutes “sacred” can be different for each of us, depending on the connection we have to that place. Or think we have. I think of Monhegan and realize that there are only certain sections of the island I consider sacred even though I speak of the entire island in generalized terms. Those sacred spots are ones that I hardly visit, never talk about, and secretly dream about the most.
Afterthought: It must be difficult to appease something as intangible as a guardian spirit.
As an aside, I enjoyed meeting Imaduddin. Lecturer, electrical engineer, Islamic teacher, Indonesian, political prisoner (for fourteen months), once wealthy and famous. What a fascinating man.
Book trivia: there are no photographs at all in Beyond Belief. I would have liked to see the Indonesian landscapes, even if it was just pictures of the rice fields or Javanese puppetry.
Music: Beethoven
BookLust Twist: from Book Lust To Go in the chapter called “Indicative of Indonesia” (p 103).
~*LunaSea*~ 