Author transcends time through fiction

House of Our Own Bookstore was aglow last Tuesday night with dimmed lights, Middle-Eastern cuisine and intellectual discussion. Pakistani-born novelist and filmmaker Tariq Ali arrived in Philadelphia as part of a book tour promoting his recent novel, The Stone Woman. Currently a British resident, Ali is the author of five novels and more than a dozen books on world history and politics. For 15 years, he also worked on documents and drama. The Stone Woman is the third novel of Ali's Islam Quartet. The series seeks to explore the decline of the Ottoman Empire through the eyes of fictional characters. An intimate group of roughly 40 people -- mostly graduate students and older Philadelphians -- attended Ali's reading. Most of the crowd had read at least some of Ali's work. "The fictional parts of his works are very strong," said Omur Harmansah, a School of Arts and Sciences graduate student. "I like how it's all in historical context." This historical aspect of fiction is important to Ali. Before he read, the author said he hoped his readers would be "educated" as well as "entertained" by his writing. In addition, he seeks to transport people "to places they have not been." And transport he did. Ali began his presentation by reading an excerpt from The Stone Woman. The story centers around an Islamic maid-servant who suffers from a life of orphanage, slavery and rape. The tale of the powerless maid, pregnant with the child of her enemy, provoked intense conversation. Audience members asked Ali about his representation of women in his novels. The author replied that because there are virtually no records of female roles in Middle-Eastern society, he must imagine their lives in order to tell their stories. But "imagining" is just one of Ali's techniques. When asked about his lengthy writing process, he gave a reply that seemed to surprise the audience. In preparation for a book, he reads for eight months, travels for two months and then writes for "about a year." "The actual events -- you have to get them right," Ali explained. Members of the audience, both those familiar with Ali's work and those who were not, were thoroughly impressed with the author's story. After listening to Ali read, the crowd eagerly inquired about his future plans. The author responded that he will soon embark on a new project -- the fourth book of his Islam Quartet -- concerning Islamic countries in the 20th century. Ali explained that his upcoming plans posed a challenge. He said he feels compelled and perhaps pressured to write differently from the many Islamic writers of the 20th century. "I don't want to repeat or mimic," he explained.