The lovers have had a fight, and frankly it’s about time. 'By transcribing the literature of such writers we will be restoring dignity not only to literature, but also to ourselves.' A person of no particular nation, Zebra is left situated in her own body and mind. 'The literature produced by exiles objectify and lend dignity to a condition designed to deny dignity,' Zebra says, citing the postcolonial theorist Edward Said. Both symbiotically use philosophy to clarify and amplify the human story. Though Call Me Zebra happens to be fiction, both books are stuffed with complex ideas made irresistible and lyric. What Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts did for gender and sexuality,, Call Me Zebra does for the experience of exile, deftly threading the narrative with theory while also using theory to pull the reader in. As the paramedics futilely try to bring Abbas Abbas Hosseini back to life, his daughter Zebra - last in a long line of valiant thinkers - stands in their New York apartment dizzily watching, feeling like she’s dissolving.
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