How Do We Face Loss With Dignity?
b'In his latest work, \\u201cThe Last White Man,\\u201d the award-winning writer Mohsin Hamid imagines a world that is very like our own, with one major exception: On various days, white people wake up to discover that their skin is no longer white. It\\u2019s a heavy premise, but one of Hamid\\u2019s unique talents as a novelist is his ability to take on the most difficult of topics \\u2014 racism, migration, loss \\u2014 with a remarkably light touch.\\n\\n\\u201cHow do you begin to have these conversations in a way that allows everybody a way in?\\u201d Hamid asks at one point in our conversation. \\u201cHow do you talk about these things in a way that\\u2019s open to everyone?\\u201d What sets Hamid apart is his capacity to do just that \\u2014 both in his fiction and in our conversation. We discuss:\\n\\nHow Hamid experienced what it was like to lose his whiteness after 9/11\\nWhat happens to a society when suddenly we can\\u2019t sort ourselves by race\\nThe origins of modern humans\\u2019 fear of death \\u2014 and how to overcome it\\nWhy Hamid thinks future humans will look back at the idea of borders with moral horror\\nWhy Hamid believes that pessimistic realism is a \\u201cdeeply conservative\\u201d worldview\\nHamid\\u2019s process for imagining optimistic futures\\nWhy Hamid believes that the very notion of the self is a fiction\\nWhy we turn to activities like sex, drugs and meditation when we get overwhelmed\\nHow America\\u2019s policies toward immigrants and refugees should challenge our \\u201cheroic\\u201d sense of national identity\\nWhat Toni Morrison taught Hamid about how to read and write\\n\\nAnd more.\\n\\nMentioned:\\n\\n"The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka\\n\\nExit West by Mohsin Hamid\\n\\nBook Recommendations:\\n\\nBeloved by Toni Morrison\\n\\nFicciones by Jorge Luis Borges\\n\\nThe Epic of Gilgamesh, translated by Andrew George\\n\\nThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.\\n\\nYou can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of \\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.\\n\\n\\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d is produced by Annie Galvin and Rog\\xe9 Karma; fact-checking by Michelle Harris, Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair; original music by Isaac Jones; mixing by Sonia Herrero and Isaac Jones; audience strategy by Shannon Busta. Special thanks to Kristin Lin and Kristina Samulewski.'