Dubai: It didn't matter that his roots were Jewish as Arnon Grunberg, the Dutch novelist and journalist, addressed students of the Gems World Academy during his first trip to Dubai yesterday.
And no, he wasn't talking about his book The Jewish Messiah. Reading out excerpts from other recent works like Clean Sheets, Undercover Jobs and Couchsurfing, he answered a volley of questions from students and had them in splits when he presented a hilarious article on his experience with a ‘palm tree' toilet brush at a Dutch friend's apartment in New York.
While Clean Sheets was originally a daily column that Grunberg wrote when he was working undercover as a chambermaid at a Bavarian hotel in 2007, his Undercover Jobs last year also include stints at a dining car in Switzerland and as a masseur in Romania between 2007-09.
Unlike investigative journalism, undercover jobs help the writer to actually get into the experience and "do the job", said Grunberg. "However, keeping up the disguise can be difficult," he said, adding that it could sometimes raise ethical questions.
Sharing thoughts
On Couchsurfing, he spoke of the beauty of being able to explore the world with the help of www.couchsurfing.com that allowed travellers a chance to put up with strangers without having to pay for their stay. "The comfort of strangers is outstanding indeed," he said as he narrated his experiences at strangers' homes from Germany to Central Europe in April 2008. Grunberg said Dubai was a city with a lot of energy. "I feel like I am in the US," he said.
Grunberg, who has the passport of an European country and is currently based in New York, said he had not encountered any "hostilities" in the region where he travelled extensively as a journalist. Among the countries he has visited are Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon. But did the fact that he was originally a Jew influence his works? "Of course, it has taught me to be more open. I try to forget about prejudices — about the roots of people," he said, adding that he wasn't exactly religious.
Grunberg said he was currently working on his next novel, which revolves around an economist and is due in October.
"Our interest in Grunberg was purely for his being a journalist and a writer of fiction — to share his methods and experience," said Bill Turner, Secondary Principal of Gems World Academy.
Grunberg's works figured in the school's Dutch Literature list, a colleague added.
