The Reluctant Fundamentalist

The inaugural ‘Wide Open Reading’ study

This is the first of a new series of occasional ‘Wide Open Reading’ studies designed to embrace a more diverse range of writers than those on which the Salon traditionally bases its work. Our immediate focus is on fiction and poetry, with ‘in person’ meetings in London. We aim to read works by writers ranging from the mid-twentieth century to the present day, voicing the experiences of people from a wide variety of places, communities and perspectives including South Asia, the Caribbean, Africa (north, south and central), the Middle East, people of colour, displaced peoples, indigenous peoples, post-colonial experience, exiles, migrants, LGBTQ+, and more . . . See our blog for more details.

“A novel can often be a divided man’s conversation with himself”

Mohsin Hamid

The Reluctant Fundamentalist is Mohsin Hamid’s second novel. It garnered considerable acclaim on publication in 2007, including being shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. The book is neither long nor overtly challenging to read, rather the challenge lies in the shifting ground that the narrator reveals about ideas of fundamentalism, postcolonial relationships, the Western dream, financial imperialism, home and unhomeliness . . .

The reader is drawn in, perhaps even seduced, by the seemingly random encounter at a café in Lahore between the narrator — a recently returned native of the city who has previously sought and achieved success in the American system — and an unnamed American. The conversation is utterly one-sided and strangely confessional. From the very outset, the position of the narrator, Changez, veers away from Western-focused spaces: he may be immersed in American culture, but his values and cultural roots as a son of Pakistan give him a critical vantage point, even as he must explore his own seduction by the cultural globalisation that cosmopolitan New York City represents — until, suddenly, it no longer does.

SALON DETAILS

• Recommended editions: The Reluctant Fundamentalist  by Mohsin Hamid published by Penguin (either ISBN: 9780241981382 or ISBN: 9780141029542)
• Four in-person sessions, Thursdays 1.00-3.00 pm: 9, 16 and 23 February and 2 March 2023
• Open facilitation led by Toby Brothers & Jane Wymark (see notes below)
• £140 for four sessions
• This is an in-person study. Meetings will be hosted in Kentish Town, London NW5, close to Kentish Town underground station (Northern Line).
• Wide Open Reading studies will focus on relatively new works, they will be subject to ‘open facilitation’ in which the facilitators are continually developing their in-depth knowledge of the text, leading journeys to explore fresh writing and new voices.