Oriana Fallaci, world renowned Italian writer, author, war reporter and journalist, has died at age 77. With her recent death, ending her decade long struggle against cancer, there are plenty of obituaries and tributes to her on the internet now. I would do a tribute myself, only there is so much to say; she had an incredibly interesting and controversial life.
To commemorate her passing, I want to publish a link to an interview she did for the New Yorker in June of 2006, by Margaret Talbot:
THE AGITATOR
Oriana Fallaci directs her fury toward Islam.
It touches on a lot of things in her fascinating life, and gives you a glimpse of the complex and intelligent woman she was. Just a few experpts:
...Fallaci’s interview with Khomeini, which appeared in the Times on October 7, 1979, soon after the Iranian revolution, was the most exhilarating example of her pugilistic approach. Fallaci had travelled to Qum to try to secure an interview with Khomeini, and she waited ten days before he received her. She had followed instructions from the new Islamist regime, and arrived at the Ayatollah’s home barefoot and wrapped in a chador. Almost immediately, she unleashed a barrage of questions about the closing of opposition newspapers, the treatment of Iran’s Kurdish minority, and the summary executions performed by the new regime...
...Fallaci continued posing indignant questions about the treatment of women in the new Islamic state. Why, she asked, did Khomeini compel women to “hide themselves, all bundled up,” when they had proved their equal stature by helping to bring about the Islamic revolution? Khomeini replied that the women who “contributed to the revolution were, and are, women with the Islamic dress”; they weren’t women like Fallaci, who “go around all uncovered, dragging behind them a tail of men.” A few minutes later, Fallaci asked a more insolent question: “How do you swim in a chador?” Khomeini snapped, “Our customs are none of your business. If you do not like Islamic dress you are not obliged to wear it. Because Islamic dress is for good and proper young women.” Fallaci saw an opening, and charged in. “That’s very kind of you, Imam. And since you said so, I’m going to take off this stupid, medieval rag right now.” She yanked off her chador.
In a recent e-mail, Fallaci said of Khomeini, “At that point, it was he who acted offended. He got up like a cat, as agile as a cat, an agility I would never expect in a man as old as he was, and he left me. In fact, I had to wait for twenty-four hours (or forty-eight?) to see him again and conclude the interview.”
When Khomeini let her return, his son Ahmed gave Fallaci some advice: his father was still very angry, so she’d better not even mention the word “chador.” Fallaci turned the tape recorder back on and immediately revisited the subject. “First he looked at me in astonishment,” she said. “Total astonishment. Then his lips moved in a shadow of a smile. Then the shadow of a smile became a real smile. And finally it became a laugh. He laughed, yes. And, when the interview was over, Ahmed whispered to me, ‘Believe me, I never saw my father laugh. I think you are the only person in this world who made him laugh.’ ”
Fallaci recalled that she found Khomeini intelligent, and “the most handsome old man I had ever met in my life. He resembled the ‘Moses’ sculpted by Michelangelo.” And, she said, Khomeini was “not a puppet like Arafat or Qaddafi or the many other dictators I met in the Islamic world. He was a sort of Pope, a sort of king—a real leader. And it did not take long to realize that in spite of his quiet appearance he represented the Robespierre or the Lenin of something which would go very far and would poison the world. People loved him too much. They saw in him another Prophet. Worse: a God.” [...]
There is more, about what happened to her after the interview, and it's creepy.
More recently, there was a bit of a scandal in Italy, when she had a private audience with the current pope at his summer residence:
...Fallaci’s recent books, and the specious trial that she is facing as a result—her books may offend, but it is no less offensive to prosecute her for them—have also made her a beloved figure to many Europeans. The books have been best-sellers in Italy; together they have sold four million copies. To her admirers, she is an aging Cassandra, summoning her strength for one final prophecy. In September, she had a private audience with Pope Benedict XVI at Castel Gandolfo, his summer residence outside Rome. She had criticized John Paul II for making overtures to Muslims, and for not condemning terrorism heartily enough, but she has hopes for Joseph Ratzinger. (The meeting was something of a scandal in Italy, since Fallaci has always said that she is an atheist; more recently, she has called herself a “Christian atheist,” out of respect for Italy’s Catholic tradition.) Last December, the Italian government presented her with a gold medal for “cultural achievement.” [...]
(bold emphasis mine) There is much, much more; about other interviews, about her home, her family, her assorted opinions on numerous topics.
One disappointment was the interviewer. I'm sorry to say that when it comes to Muslim immigration and the threat Fallaci speaks of, interviewer Margaret Talbot clearly doesn't "get it", and seems to be stuck in Politically Correct mode, like so much of our MSM is. But at least she does address the topic with Fallaci, and even though Talbot remains unconvinced, the interview is compelling none the less; Fallaci makes an interesting study, and Talbot provides us with a multi-faceted view of this remarkable and memorable woman. I thoroughly enjoyed the interview, and hope you will, too.
R.I.P.
Related Links:
Oriana Fallaci: Rage and Pride
"THE FORCE OF REASON" is here
A Hero Gone: Oriana Fallaci Is Dead
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