TASK
Write a 4-5-page book review on Amitav Ghosh’s account of life across the medieval Indian Ocean as reconstructed in his In an Antique Land.
Devote the first 3-5 paragraphs (about a page and a half to two pages) briefly presenting who the author is (look him up online—he has his own webpage with list of published works), identifying the genre or style of the book (is the work a work of fiction such as a novel, a travelogue, a work of scholarly history, or a combination of the three?), and providing a quick sketch of the work’s plotline (the story told in book).
Next, address how Ghosh relies on geniza documentation from the synagogue of Ben Ezra in Fatimid Fustāt(old Cairo) to reconstruct aspects of the medieval past. Use Mark Cohen’s essay on the Geniza in addition to Ghosh’s own explanation of this strange institution to help make your case. Finally, address how the author contrasts his retelling of life in the medieval past with a critique of life in the twentieth century.
Do you think Ghosh’s account of life in the medieval world of North Africa and the Indian Ocean presents a compelling case of convivencia(“a world of accommodation” of difference) between individuals from different communal and religious backgrounds? How does Ghosh use this “world of accommodations” to offer a contrast and critique of life in our own world of “exclusion”? Do you find his contrast convincing?
