Water on Fire: A Memoir by Tarek El-Ariss
April 29, 2024 | 12:00 - 1:15 PM | McElroy 237 | Please register to attend
In his new memoir, Water on Fire, leading Middle East scholar Tarek El-Ariss tells a story of immigration that starts in a Beirut devastated by the Lebanese Civil War (1975–90), continues with experiences of displacement in Europe and Africa, moves to northeastern American towns battered by lake-effect snow and economic woes, and ends in New York City on 9/11. Alternating between his perspective as a child and as an adult, El-Ariss explores how we live with trauma, poignantly illustrating the profound impact of war on our perception of the world, our fears and longings. His memoir is at once historical and universal, intellectual and introspective, the outcome of a long and painful process of excavation that reveals internal turmoil and the predicament of conflict and separation.
The Clough Center is delighted to welcome Prof. El-Ariss to discuss his new work, a memoir rich in reflection on place, attachment, and exile. Please join us for this lunchtime conversation, the closing event of our program year.
Please register to attend. A light lunch will be served to all registered attendees.
Speakers
Tarek El-Ariss is the James Wright Professor and Chair of Middle Eastern Studies at Dartmouth College. Born and raised in Beirut during the Civil War (1975-1990) and trained in philosophy, literary theory, and visual and cultural studies at the American University of Beirut, Rochester, and Cornell, his work deals with questions of displacement, war, and desire. He has written about disoriented travelers, outcasts, queers, hackers, and characters with complicated relations to home and power. He is the author of Trials of Arab Modernity: Literary Affects and the New Political (Fordham, 2013) and Leaks, Hacks, and Scandals: Arab Culture in the Digital Age (Princeton, 2019), and editor of The Arab Renaissance: A Bilingual Anthology of the Nahda (MLA, 2018). His work has been reviewed in The New York Times, Times Literary Supplement, and Choice. In 2021, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship to complete his war memoir, Water on Fire.
Campus Map and Parking
Parking is available at the nearby Beacon Street and Commonwealth Avenue Garages.
Boston College is also accessible via public transportation (MBTA B Line - Boston College).
Boston College strongly encourages conference participants to receive the COVID-19 vaccination before attending events on campus.