Being asked to explain their country's politics when they travel abroad is now the lot of writers on the book fair circuit as Hazel Marshall reports from the first week of the Edinburgh International Book Festival.
'Being Bothered and Bewildered are part of being Bewitched. Some people are scared of that. People give up wanting to be bewitched in case they also get bothered and bewildered." So Philip Pullman described the magic of words.
During its first week, the Edinburgh International Book Festival bewitched, bothered, but rarely bewildered its audience. A record breaking 12,000 people through the doors on the first day proved that there were plenty people willing to listen.
Pullman's comments arose during a debate with Anne Fine, Julia Eccleshare and Francis Spufford. Spufford claimed that stories could be dangerous since for him "stories replaced living". He had to discover that "real life isn't story shaped" which came as a huge disappointment to him as a child. "To find out that there is no narrator and that you never find out what other people are thinking." He found that because he read so much he didn't pay attention to real life's plots and patterns.
Not paying attention to real life's plots and patterns is not a charge that could ever be leveled against Tariq Ali. A well-informed, passionate, intelligent narrator he took his audience on a whirlwind tour of the world's trouble spots.
Starting with the "Thinker President", Ali thinks Bush will soon start another war, despite the fact that no one seems to want it. This was a worry that echoed constantly throughout the festival.
Ali toured the US with his book about fundamentalism in April and was heartened by the sizeable minority who are getting fed up with Bush. He found his audiences, most of whom were between 18 and 26, desperate to hear an alternative to the US media.
Fundamentalism is not only an Islamic problem he said: there had been a large rise of right-wing Christian fundamentalism in the US. The Department of Justice started each day with a prayer meeting and had put a veil over the bare breasts of the statue of justice he added.
Former Bishop of Edinburgh, Richard Holloway discussed the issues of morality and religion with Philip Pullman. Pullman felt that it was important that writers packed a "moral punch" and said he disliked the fact that throughout history people had put their faith in one creed, whether espoused by the Bible or the Communist Manifesto. "This is what I'm against. Not Christianity, but every religion and fundamental organisation where there is one truth and they will kill you if you don't believe it."
Unacknowledged fictional historian of America, Joyce Carol Oates, admitted to having been bewitched in her childhood by Alice in Wonderland. Oates, on first sight, resembles a frail child, but when she speaks her dry, brittle humour and sparkling intelligence shatter that illusion and it becomes clear why she is one of America's top novelists.
Having written on subjects ranging from Marilyn Monroe to boxing, the word eclectic could have been created for her. She compared writing a book to long distance trucking across the US - in which case she must have crossed the States at least 40 times. No wonder she understands it so well.
If the word eclectic was coined for Joyce Carol Oates, then the word feisty was invented for Egyptian writer Nawal el Saadawi. In her first visit to the festival, el Saadawi provoked, challenged and entertained her audience.
Although el Saadawi's parents supported her writing when she was young they discouraged her later because they knew that writers went to prison. El Saadawi was indeed imprisoned in 1981 but found it inspirational. "When I went to prison I started to see life. When you are part of life you don't see it. You have to go to the other side - to death, to prison, to exile."
El Saadawi places the blame for most problems at the feet of the male patriarchy of the international world, a world led by the US which is "led by one of the most stupid men in the world" - a trait, she claims, he inherited from his father. The discovery of oil, el Saadawi feels, was a disaster for the Middle East - "They call it the Middle East - I say, middle to whom?" - since that moment the area has, she said, never known peace.
El Saadawi also took part in the "Women in Islam" debate with Kamila Shamsie and Malise Ruthven. In answer to Shamsie's comment that there is Islam and political Islam, (because of the way governments interpret the texts) - el Saadawi said that she was against all interpretation since God should be clear. "If God cannot be clear, who can be more clear?"
Is it impolite to ask writers about the political situation in which they live when they want to speak as a novelist? Perhaps, but it is also inevitable. Israeli author Amos Oz answered the same questions about the Palestinian/Israeli situation twice in two days, despite a plea for literary questions as well as political ones.
The solution, he thinks, is to create two sovereign states. He says they can either go on killing each other forever or they can compromise.
He knows that it would have to be a clenched-teeth compromise. But also thinks that they will never be one big happy family for the simple reason that they are two families. There will, he claims, "have to be a fair, though painful divorce". It will be painful because both parties will be staying in the same house.
Oz was in Edinburgh to talk about his book, The Same Sea. Written in both poetry and prose it blurs the lines between life and death and between families. He wanted the book to "sing and dance not just tell a story.' '
Oz calls his novel "pre-archaic" - claiming he has returned to the troubadour style with the narrator moving in and out, mixing fact, fiction and biography and with pieces of music interspersed throughout.
It is not just Israeli authors who are asked to explain their country's politics when they travel abroad. On August 11th, Joyce Carol Oates, Claire Messud and Kathryn Harrison were brought together to discuss their reactions to September 11th. Harrison had seen it happen from her roof while to Messud it had all seemed surreal as she stood under clear blue skies in western Massachusetts. Oates, who was already in mourning for her father, felt that she had become insignificant.
They discussed the "virus of patriotism" which swept the US after the atrocity and whether they thought that their country had changed. They agreed that, while some treated the event as a wake-up call, many in the "passive, lethargic, large beast" that is the US felt that it was irrelevant.
One thing they all wanted to make clear was that their voices were unheard by their own government. "To be a writer in America is to be reminded constantly you're irrelevant," said Harrison. Disempowerment with politics was another common theme throughout the festival.
On a lighter note, Alan Bennett made a rare appearance. A natural storyteller, Bennett delighted his audience by reading extracts from his diaries. His talk did not coincide with fellow dramatist Harold Pinter, who makes his appearance on the 25th of this month. When phoned by a paper to ask if he had any comment on Pinter's 50th birthday, Bennett noted in his diary that he had said no. On reflection, however, he felt he should have asked for two minutes silence.
Guaranteed to start people talking, Germaine Greer proved provocative as ever when she outlined an image of Tony Blair always having to appear in public with his wife as a pledge to his heterosexuality when instead she should be let get on with her own important job. The public had had enough of that now she said.
If provocation and entertainment were provided in equal part throughout the first week there are no signs of it letting up in the second.
Bestselling authors Ian McEwan and Louis de Bernières are two of the highlights still to come. Colin Thubron will be speaking on the Peruvian Andes while Lisa St Aubin de Terán and Alain de Botton will be exploring the whole idea of wanderlust. Also lined up to bewitch are Edward Said, Roddy Doyle, Kathy Reichs, Irvine Welsh and Harold Pinter.
Controversy will continue with debates due on Designer Babies, Fiction for Young Adults, Alternative Health, Gods and Guns and culminating with The Great Gaelic Debate on August 25th.
The popular - and not just because of the free coffee and pastries - Celtic Writers for Breakfast strand continues with contributions from Janice Galloway, Colm Tóibín, A.L. Kennedy and Allan Massie to name but a few.
Life may be bewildering and many are bothered by current world events but with such bewitching writers there is hope that words may yet provide a solution.
The Edinburgh International Book Festival continues until August 26th at Charlotte Square Gardens. More information is available from: www.edbookfest.co.uk