Al-Ahram Weekly | Opinion | Letters to the Editor

		Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 8 - 14 February 2001 Issue No.520
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map

Choosing the truth
Sir- As an avid reader of Edward Said for many years, I once again was struck by his own "genius." I hope Said understands that he is one of the few intellectuals who have worked persistently and consistently to create or find new meanings in intellectual life for many. His article "Too much work" (Al-Ahram Weekly, 1-7 February) was an inspirational piece for many readers who are "working" hard to write, create, and illustrate new meanings for different cultures, and struggling for inventions and new thoughts without "divine" or "innate" inspiration.
Said has written wonderful books, but his stroke of genius (alongside Orientalism) is the little book that everyone must read: Representations of the Intellectual. This small text is a stroke of genius. Thank you, Edward Said.
He writes in this text: "... the only way of achieving... is to keep reminding yourself that as an intellectual you are one who can choose between actively representing the truth to the best of your ability and passively allowing a patron or an authority to direct you. For the secular intellectual, those gods always fail."
Mehnaz M Afridi
Los Angeles
California

Palace intrigue
Sir- I fully agree with Fayza Hassan's absorbing article ("The last pasha's den," Al-Ahram Weekly, 1-7 February).
The palatial residence of the late head of the Wafd Party, Fouad Serageddin Pasha, must be preserved at all costs despite the sorry state in which he left it.
As a temporary and privileged resident of a nearby villa, I am fully aware of the value of these mansions. Their story has yet to be told. We may learn yet another interesting chapter of this pulsating city's history.
I would, however, like to draw your readers' attention to a couple of facts surrounding the Pasha's residence.
Contrary to what was mentioned, Beirle was not the Italian architect who designed this house. The palace did belong to real estate magnate Count Carlo (or Charles) Beyerle, one of the founders of the Credit Foncier Bank. He commissioned the palace in 1912, not 1902.
As for the designer-architect, it was most probably Eugenio Valzania.
It has often been said but actually never proven that Germany's Kaiser was expected to stay at the palace on his first ever visit to Egypt. This would have been impossible since (1) the imperial visit was scheduled prior to 1912 and (2) the alleged visit was limited to Alexandria only.
Perhaps the confusion arose form the fact that on the eve of World War I, the palace served as the Imperial German legation. This of course ended with Germany's declaration of war.
Some time after World War I, the palace was transformed into a school for well-bred girls. Ms Dagmar Berg was its Swedish headmistress.
As for Shahin Serageddin Pasha, father of Fouad Pasha, he comes into the picture in the 1930s when he purchased the house, which accounts for the initials on the iron portico. In those days, names such as Shirine, Sherif and Shahin were spelt with a "C" rather than with an "S." French influence was still prevalent.
Donat Agosti
Garden City

History lesson

Sir-I read Fayza Hassan's column "Tea at the Pension Viennoise" (Al-Ahram Weekly, 1-7 February) with considerable interest. While I find some of the points raised in the column intriguing, I am personally a bit wary about dismissing the holocaust as a public relations trick. It's bad enough that there are schools here in America which have begun teaching that the holocaust was merely propaganda and never in fact happened. This merely buries the lessons of the past under the rug, and how can we learn from history if we are not to see the truth about it? So yes, the holocaust should be remembered. But it should not be used as an excuse for the mistreatment of others. I am a big fan of her weekly columns and recommend them often at my Web site (http://www.ethmar.com). Keep up the good work! I look forward to reading more!

Ethan Johnson
Dallas, Texas

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